Forensic Analysis · Semiconductors · as of Sep 24, 2026
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AAOI)
A forensic read on Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
F · Poor — capital at risk
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
13.3
Distress distance
Watch
Earnings quality
6
Forensic signals
-135.0
P / E (ttm)
-5.2%
ROE
$8.6B
Market cap
0.00%
Dividend yield
82.8%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern, valuation). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. earns an F (Poor — capital at risk) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 13.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 6 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+99.6%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +99.6% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash. An accrual is a claim that still has to be collected or written down, so the gap resolves in a later period whichever way it goes. The build is led by receivables up +109% against revenue +83% and inventory up +108% against +70% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base agrees: reported earnings ran ahead of operating cash by 36% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 99.6%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average.
145d DSO
FY2024→FY2025
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 121 to 145 days FY2024→FY2025 (receivables +109% vs revenue +83%). Receivables are outrunning sales — a flag for aggressive revenue recognition or slipping collections.
-5.8%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -5.8% in the latest fiscal year, against -12% in FY2023, having run between -16.9% and -5.8% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. The capital base behind it grew +170% across FY2023–FY2025, from $274M to $739M, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the -12% the older base was already earning.
+37.3%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +88% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (+37.3%/yr). The count is growing: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~37.3% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2023 has been diluted ~47%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$455.7M
Revenue Growth YoY+82.8%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+44.7%
Net Margin-8.4%
Free Cash Flow-$353.6M
Return on Equity-5.2%
Debt / Equity0.05x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?
Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Sep 24, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.
3% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 3% of revenue in FY2025 — about $0.19 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 37.5% a year and that rate is not falling, so total profit has to grow by that much annually before any of it reaches a share. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
155d
FY2024→FY2025
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 148 to 155 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +108% vs +70% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AAOI) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy