Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Sells 10,082 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Key Points

• Kornitzer Capital Management reduced its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 16.7% in Q4, selling 10,082 shares and leaving it with 50,213 shares (≈0.07% of the company) valued at $1.75 million.
• Insiders have been net sellers, offloading 314,333 shares worth $29.26 million over the past three months, including Hung‑Lun (Fred) Chang's 36,400‑share sale (~$3.65M) and CFO Stefan J. Murry's 4,000‑share sale (~$546K).
• Large valuation disconnect: AAOI is trading near $183.38 (52‑week high $191.87) with a $14.68B market cap, while analysts hold a consensus "Hold" and an average price target of just $52.80.

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS reduced its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) by 16.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,213 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 10,082 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS owned 0.07% of Applied Optoelectronics worth $1,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAOI. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $21,392,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $19,738,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,624,570 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $119,915,000 after purchasing an additional 551,910 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,160,456 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $30,091,000 after purchasing an additional 435,349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penn Capital Management Company LLC bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,057,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of AAOI stock opened at $183.38 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $112.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.59. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.56 and a 52 week high of $191.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a PE ratio of -282.13 and a beta of 3.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The firm had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.02) earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAOI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.80.

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

In related news, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total transaction of $3,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 233,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,420,204.50. The trade was a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.50, for a total transaction of $546,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 276,070 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,683,555. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 314,333 shares of company stock valued at $29,262,106. Company insiders own 4.50% of the company's stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Company Profile

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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