UNICOM Systems Inc. Buys 83,892 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Key Points

• UNICOM Systems more than doubled its AAOI stake in the second quarter, buying 83,892 additional shares for a total of 152,483 shares worth approximately $22.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 61.7% of Applied Optoelectronics.
• Applied Optoelectronics beat second-quarter estimates, reporting $0.06 EPS and $191.9 million in revenue, up 86.3% year over year. Growth is being driven by strong AI data-center demand for 800G and 1.6T optical products, though manufacturing capacity and component shortages are limiting expansion.
• Outlook remains mixed: Q3 EPS guidance of $0.11–$0.26 fell below consensus, while insiders sold $87.4 million of stock over the past 90 days. Analysts’ consensus rating is “Hold,” with a $134 price target versus the stock’s reported $135.63 price.

UNICOM Systems Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) by 122.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 152,483 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 83,892 shares during the quarter. Applied Optoelectronics accounts for 1.5% of UNICOM Systems Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. UNICOM Systems Inc. owned 0.19% of Applied Optoelectronics worth $22,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,982,660 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $173,696,000 after acquiring an additional 358,090 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $122,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,446,150 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $77,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,188,630 shares during the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,700,900 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $59,293,000 after purchasing an additional 875,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $59,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,775 shares during the last quarter. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In related news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.09, for a total value of $488,360.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 380,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,464,523.84. This represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 4,715 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.50, for a total value of $596,447.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 383,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,512,497. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 506,215 shares of company stock valued at $87,409,447 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

AAOI stock opened at $135.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.03. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.50 and a 1 year high of $233.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $137.34 and a 200 day moving average of $118.14. The company has a market cap of $10.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -173.88 and a beta of 3.76.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.04. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 2.52% and a negative net margin of 9.57%.The business had revenue of $191.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $190.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.16) EPS. 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

More Applied Optoelectronics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Optoelectronics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results exceeded expectations: Applied Optoelectronics reported adjusted EPS of $0.06 versus consensus estimates near $0.02–$0.03. Revenue reached approximately $191.9 million, ahead of estimates and up about 86% year over year from $103 million. Applied Optoelectronics Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Up Y/Y
• Positive Sentiment: AI datacenter demand is accelerating: Growth was driven by datacenter products, including rapidly expanding 800G optical transceivers. Management is also increasing capacity for 800G and 1.6T products, with demand reportedly exceeding available supply through at least mid-2027. AAOI Q2 Earnings Call Focuses on Capacity-Led 800G Ramp
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and industry momentum helped sentiment: Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its “buy” rating and assigned a $220 price target. Photonics and optics companies also benefited from strong sector earnings and expectations that potential U.S. restrictions on Chinese optical-transceiver imports could reduce overseas competition. Benzinga analyst rating report
• Neutral Sentiment: Expansion is being limited by supply: Management said it could sell more products if it had greater manufacturing capacity. Component shortages are expected to constrain near-term growth, even as they demonstrate strong underlying demand. Applied Optoelectronics says it could sell more if it could make more
• Negative Sentiment: Q3 profit guidance disappointed: The company forecast EPS of $0.11–$0.26, below the roughly $0.27 analyst consensus, although projected revenue of $255 million–$290 million brackets consensus near $265.7 million. Analysts also flagged competition, a setback in 100G products and valuation concerns after the stock’s substantial rally. Applied Optoelectronics slides amid mixed Q2 results and guidance

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday. Raymond James Financial set a $151.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $134.00.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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