Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $94.32, but opened at $89.80. Applied Optoelectronics shares last traded at $99.1280, with a volume of 1,515,012 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAOI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 12.5%

The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $142.06 and its 200-day moving average is $115.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.52 billion, a PE ratio of -160.48 and a beta of 3.76.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 4.64% and a negative net margin of 8.55%.The company had revenue of $151.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.02) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total value of $10,705,687.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 59,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,287,001.81. This trade represents a 48.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 39,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 462,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,120,621.80. This trade represents a 7.81% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 501,500 shares of company stock worth $86,812,999. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $122,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,446,150 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $77,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,188,630 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter worth about $26,923,000. 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.