Jupiter Topco LLC Makes New $4.87 Million Investment in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Key Points

• Jupiter Topco LLC initiated a $4.87 million position in Applied Optoelectronics, purchasing 32,919 shares during the second quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 61.7% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: three analysts rate AAOI a Buy, two rate it Hold and one rates it Sell. The consensus rating is Hold, with an average price target of $139.40.
• Applied Optoelectronics beat quarterly earnings estimates, reporting $0.06 EPS and $191.92 million in revenue, up 86.3% year over year. However, insiders sold $44.2 million of shares over the past 90 days, primarily to cover tax obligations tied to equity awards.

Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 32,919 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $4,874,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter worth $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth $47,000. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on AAOI. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $139.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total transaction of $5,495,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 384,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,043,441.28. This trade represents a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 59,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total transaction of $9,825,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,302,436 shares of the company's stock, valued at $216,894,667.08. This trade represents a 4.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 264,382 shares of company stock worth $44,224,007 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 1.4%

AAOI stock opened at $107.69 on Tuesday. The business's 50 day moving average is $120.47 and its 200-day moving average is $128.21. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.50 and a 1-year high of $233.67. The firm has a market cap of $9.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -138.06 and a beta of 3.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.04. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 1.98% and a negative net margin of 9.57%.The company had revenue of $191.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $190.48 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.16) earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 86.3% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Applied Optoelectronics

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc develops and manufactures high-speed fiber-optic networking products designed to support the growing bandwidth demands of data centers, telecommunications carriers and internet content providers. The company's core offerings include pluggable optical transceiver modules, transponders and optical components that enable data transmission at rates ranging from 1G to 400G. These products are used to facilitate long-haul, metro and intra-data center connectivity, addressing the need for scalable, low-latency and energy-efficient solutions in modern network infrastructures.

The company's product portfolio spans small-form factor pluggable modules such as SFP+, QSFP+ and QSFP28 units, as well as more advanced form factors like CFP2 and OSFP for ultra-high-speed applications.

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