Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Trading Up 8.4% – Here’s What Happened
by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets DailyApplied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report)’s share price was up 8.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $48.18 and last traded at $48.0150. Approximately 3,142,044 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 5,409,809 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.30.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several analysts have issued reports on AAOI shares. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Northland Securities set a $45.00 target price on Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, B. Riley Financial restated a “sell” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.60.
Get Our Latest Research Report on AAOI
Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance
The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.75. The company has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.88 and a beta of 3.32.
Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $118.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.77 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 36.97% and a negative return on equity of 7.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 82.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.21) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 EPS for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, insider David C. Kuo sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.05, for a total transaction of $540,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 114,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,164,351.80. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $32,690.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 283,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,906,295. This represents a 0.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,500 shares of company stock worth $1,178,726. 4.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics
A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAOI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,982,660 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $173,696,000 after buying an additional 358,090 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,512,902 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,750,000 after buying an additional 146,639 shares during the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong lifted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 410.7% in the second quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 1,408,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,197,000 after buying an additional 1,133,115 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,160,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,091,000 after acquiring an additional 435,349 shares during the period. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at $21,392,000. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
About Applied Optoelectronics
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.