Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock Price Down 6.9% – Time to Sell?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shares dropped 6.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $37.10 and last traded at $36.5670. Approximately 1,467,132 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 4,531,667 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.26.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAOI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Northland Securities set a $45.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. B. Riley reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.60.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $30.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.92 and a beta of 3.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.01. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 36.97% and a negative return on equity of 7.34%. The business had revenue of $118.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.77 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.21) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 82.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at -0.130–0.040 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.75, for a total value of $101,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 283,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,584,021.25. This trade represents a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.15, for a total transaction of $501,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 130,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,257,562.20. This represents a 8.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 16,500 shares of company stock valued at $638,126 in the last three months. 4.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. Pacific Point Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter worth about $1,394,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at about $969,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,057,000. Finally, Castleark Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter valued at $3,251,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.70% 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.