Applied Optoelectronics slides on planned $600 mln stock sale
BUZZ-Applied Optoelectronics slides on planned $600 mln stock sale ** Shares of fiber optic networking products provider Applied Optoelectronics AAOI.O down 11.8% to $110.11, a three-week low, on Mon as it plans to raise equity
** Sugar Land, Texas-based firm late Fri filed $600 mln ATM ("at-the-market") stock offering with Raymond James and Needham as sales agents
** Co intends to use net offering proceeds for general purposes, including debt repayment, working capital, capex and acquisitions
** It has ~84.91 mln shares outstanding for about $10.6 bln market cap through Fri
** On Aug 4, AAOI shares surged 19% to close at $131.63 after report the Trump administration is drafting ban on Chinese data center components, to help protect the infrastructure that undergirds the AI boom
** On Aug 6, co reported Q2 rev grew 86% yr/yr to $191.9 mln, topping LSEG consensus of $190.5 mln, as co cited strong demand for its high-speed optics and 800G products
** Even with the decline, shares have more than tripled YTD
** 4 of 7 analysts rate the stock "buy", 3 rate "hold"; median PT $149, per LSEG data
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))