Applied Opt (NASDAQ:AAOI)
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.(AAOI), a leading fiber-optic networking company yesterday reported their preliminary fourth quarter 2016 financial results. Applied Optoelectronics reported fourth quarter revenues to be in between $84.5 and $84.8 million which beat previous projections of $75 to $79 million. The company also reported Non GAAP diluted earnings to be in a range of $0.70 to $0.75 per share which beat previous projections of $0.46 to $0.51 per share.
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. CEO’s Comments
“We delivered a strong fourth quarter with top and bottom-line results expected to exceed our guidance,” said Dr. Thompson Lin, Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. founder, president and CEO. “Accelerated demand for our market-leading datacenter products and increased capacity fueled our results. Additionally, we continued to drive manufacturing efficiencies, which contributed to a record gross margin. We are excited by the good close to the year and look forward to sharing the additional details of our fourth quarter performance on our conference call in February.” Globe Newswire
AAOI Technical Analysis
AAOI opened trading yesterday at $22.86 which was down from the previous day’s trading close of $22.87. AAOI closed trading yesterday at $22.72 and spiked up after market to $27.20, equivalent to a 20% increase from the closing price. Taking a look at the daily chart below we can see that we are in unchartered territory as with spike up AAOI is now trading at all time highs. Taking a closer look at the daily chart we can see that before the spike up AAOI had already been in an overall upward trend dating back to June 20th when it traded at $9.20.
AAOI has a float of 15.26 million shares and traded below the normal daily trading volume on Wednesday. For trading purposes, I would like to see AAOI open trading on Thursday above $25.70 and if it does I would be looking to take a long position at the bell. My stop loss would be $0.30 from my entry position fearing anything more than that and the stock would start to fill in the gap up. If you’re interested in trading penny stocks then you should check out strategies implemented at Warrior Trading.
Company Profile
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., incorporated on March 25, 2013, is a vertically integrated provider of fiber-optic networking products. The Company offers its products for approximately three networking end markets, such as Internet data center; cable television (CATV), and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). The Company designs and manufactures a range of optical communications products at varying levels of integration, from components, subassemblies and modules to turnkey equipment. The Company’s customers in the Internet data center market include Internet-based (Web 2.0) data center operators, to whom it supplies optical transceivers that plug into switches and servers within the data center, and allow these network devices to send and receive data over fiber optic cables. To the CATV market, the Company supplies a range of products, including lasers, transmitters and turnkey equipment, as well as headend, node and distribution equipment. The Company designs, manufactures and integrates its own analog and digital lasers using a combination of Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) and its Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) fabrication process.
The Company’s components incorporate one or more of its optical laser chips inside a precision housing that provides mechanical protection, as well as standardized electrical contacts. Its other optical components may also include optical filters or other optical elements by which optical signals are routed internally within the component. These components may also include coolers, heaters and sensors that allow the temperature of the laser chip to be measured and controlled. At the next level of integration, the Company’s module or sub-assembly products typically contain one or more of its optical components and additional control circuitry. For other levels of integration, the Company’s equipment products typically contain one or more optical components, modules and additional electronic control circuitry required to enable these subsystems to operate independently. The Company’s manufacturing sites are located at Sugar Land, Texas; Ningbo, China, and Taipei, Taiwan.
The Company competes with EMCORE Corporation, Finisar Corporation, Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd., Lumentum Holding, Inc., Mitsubishi, Molex, LLC, Oclaro, Inc., Source Photonics and Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.