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

12 Mar 2026, 15:38 by Mitch Edgeman · The Markets Daily

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $127.01, but opened at $115.53. Applied Optoelectronics shares last traded at $109.8270, with a volume of 5,955,813 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAOI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.80.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Applied Optoelectronics

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 12.6%

The company has a fifty day moving average of $53.08 and a 200-day moving average of $37.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -170.88 and a beta of 3.20.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The business had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.56 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 8.39%.The business’s revenue was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director William H. Yeh sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.76, for a total value of $1,586,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 238,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,257,497.44. This trade represents a 5.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 21,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.02, for a total transaction of $2,058,420.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 116,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,392,080.44. This trade represents a 15.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 273,433 shares of company stock worth $23,341,962 in the last quarter. 4.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,579 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,415 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $851,000. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter valued at approximately $283,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 3,828.0% in the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 18.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,285,693 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $33,034,000 after purchasing an additional 203,830 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.