Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Trading Up 16.3% – Still a Buy?

Posted by Brian Himes on May 13th, 2026

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report) shot up 16.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $173.10 and last traded at $173.28. 3,824,276 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 9,489,428 shares. The stock had previously closed at $148.94.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAOI has been the topic of several analyst reports. B. Riley Financial raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective 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. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday. Finally, Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.80.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Applied Optoelectronics

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 1.8%

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 has a market capitalization of $15.11 billion, a PE ratio of -285.27 and a beta of 3.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $126.09 and a 200 day moving average of $67.54.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $151.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 51.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In related news, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total value of $3,649,100.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 21,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.02, for a total value of $2,058,420.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 116,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,392,080.44. The trade was a 15.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 276,313 shares of company stock valued at $27,360,465 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. NFSG Corp bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the first quarter worth $85,000. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter valued at $55,000. Institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.