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

Posted by Francis Steltz on Aug 26th, 2026

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $124.82, but opened at $109.13. Applied Optoelectronics shares last traded at $103.9780, with a volume of 4,462,749 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on AAOI shares. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. B. Riley Financial reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.40.

Get Our Latest Research Report on AAOI

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 5.1%

The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $9.57 billion, a PE ratio of -145.06 and a beta of 3.76. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.37.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $191.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.48 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 9.57% and a negative return on equity of 1.98%. Applied Optoelectronics’s quarterly revenue was up 86.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.16) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. Research analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 28,826 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total value of $4,800,393.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 400,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,646,471.71. This trade represents a 6.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total value of $5,495,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 384,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,043,441.28. The trade was a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 272,629 shares of company stock valued at $45,881,654 over the last three months. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EFG International AG purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter valued at $47,000. Fiduciary Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,000. Tema ETFs LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter worth $88,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.