Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh Sells 39,154 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock

Key Points

• Insider sale: Applied Optoelectronics insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 39,154 shares at an average price of $173.26, totaling about $6.78 million. The company said the sale was to cover tax withholding obligations tied to vesting equity awards.
• Recent insider activity and dilution concerns: Other executives, including the CEO and CFO, also recently sold shares for tax-related reasons. The company filed a prospectus supplement for a $600 million at-the-market stock offering, which has raised concern about potential dilution.
• Business and stock backdrop: AAOI recently reported a quarterly EPS miss but revenue growth of 51.3% year over year, while analysts remain mixed overall with a consensus Hold rating. The stock has also pulled back after a strong run, even as commentary stays constructive on AI-driven optical networking demand.

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 39,154 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $6,783,822.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 462,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,120,621.80. The trade was a 7.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 9th, Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 50,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.10, for a total value of $4,855,000.00.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

AAOI stock traded down $1.93 on Tuesday, reaching $171.33. The company had a trading volume of 8,941,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,914,948. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.06 and a 1 year high of $233.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.83. The company's fifty day moving average is $135.43 and its 200 day moving average is $73.08. The company has a market cap of $13.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -259.59 and a beta of 3.76.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. The company had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $156.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics's quarterly revenue was up 51.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Trending Headlines about Applied Optoelectronics

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

• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 58,000 shares, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares, and other insiders also sold stock, but the company said the transactions were tied to tax withholding on equity award vesting.
• Neutral Sentiment: Applied Optoelectronics recently filed a prospectus supplement for a $600 million at-the-market stock offering, which raised investor concerns about potential dilution and added a near-term overhang.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive overall, with recent buy ratings and a bullish thesis tied to strong hyperscaler demand for AI optical infrastructure and expanding demand for 800G and 1.6T optics.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock has also been hit by profit-taking after a sharp run-up, with market commentary noting that AAOI and other AI optics names are pulling back as investors lock in gains.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. B. Riley Financial upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $54.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.80.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AAOI. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake 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 valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at about $57,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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