AAOI
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.
AAOI offers stronger valuation, but that advantage does not outweigh its weaker overall profile.
FLEX
Flex Ltd.
FLEX has a slight edge over AAOI overall, supported by lower modeled downside and stronger modeled upside.
AAOI Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Under pressure | |
| Weak | |
| Unavailable |
AAOI's revenue is currently strong, but its profitability and cash flow are under pressure. There isn't enough data to rate its balance sheet.
FLEX Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| Under pressure | |
| Healthy |
FLEX's revenue, profitability and balance sheet are currently healthy, but its cash flow is under pressure.
AAOI PE Valuation
AAOI has no meaningful PE right now: it lost money over the past year. If it returns to profit as analysts expect, today's price would be 18x next year's earnings.
FLEX PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 11x | $31.01 | -60% |
| Forward | 12x | $78.12 | — |
| Fair | 16x | $43.16 | -45% |
| Current | 28x | $78.12 | — |
| Expensive | 29x | $81.26 | +4% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
FLEX's PE is in its expensive range at 28x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 12x next year's earnings, in its cheap range.
AAOI Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| -- | |
| Returning to profit | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Limited | |
| Low |
Analysts expect AAOI to return to profit, with revenue growing. However, they disagree widely on these estimates.
FLEX Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strong growth | |
| Improving | |
| Limited | |
| Moderate |
Analysts expect strong earnings and revenue growth for FLEX, with profitability improving.
AAOI Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $2.98 | — |
| Q3 2026 | -$0.42 | +$3.02 |
| Q2 2026 | -$0.77 | +$2.81 |
| Q1 2026 | -$0.65 | +$3.43 |
| Q4 2025 | -$0.64 | +$3.86 |
| Q3 2025 | -$3.44 | -$1.41 |
| Q2 2025 | -$3.58 | -$1.70 |
| Q1 2025 | -$4.08 | -$2.29 |
| Q4 2024 | -$4.50 | -$2.75 |
AAOI is still losing money, but far less than before: $0.42 per share over the past year, against $4.50 at its worst in late 2024.
FLEX Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $6.28 | +127% |
| Q3 2026 | $2.77 | +23% |
| Q2 2026 | $2.59 | +14% |
| Q1 2026 | $2.33 | +9.9% |
| Q4 2025 | $2.23 | -10% |
| Q3 2025 | $2.26 | 0% |
| Q2 2025 | $2.28 | +2.2% |
| Q1 2025 | $2.12 | -7.8% |
| Q4 2024 | $2.48 | +47% |
FLEX has the edge over AAOI on earnings quality, reporting a profit while its opponent remains loss making.
AAOI Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $269.9M | +127% |
| Q2 2026 | $191.9M | +86% |
| Q1 2026 | $151.1M | +51% |
| Q4 2025 | $134.3M | +34% |
| Q3 2025 | $118.6M | +82% |
| Q2 2025 | $103M | +138% |
| Q1 2025 | $99.9M | +146% |
| Q4 2024 | $100.3M | +66% |
AAOI has the edge over FLEX on sales, with more consistent year-over-year improvement.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -0.5% | +15 points |
| Q2 2026 | -13% | +2.6 points |
| Q1 2026 | -8.6% | +0.3 points |
| Q4 2025 | -8.6% | -2.1 points |
| Q3 2025 | -15% | +10 points |
| Q2 2025 | -16% | +45 points |
| Q1 2025 | -8.9% | +44 points |
| Q4 2024 | -6.5% | +1 points |
AAOI's operating margin was −0.5% last quarter, up 15 points from the same quarter a year ago, near the top of its range since 2019.
FLEX Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $8.5B | +25% |
| Q2 2026 | $7.9B | +21% |
| Q1 2026 | $7.5B | +17% |
| Q4 2025 | $7.1B | +7.7% |
| Q3 2025 | $6.8B | +4% |
| Q2 2025 | $6.6B | +4.1% |
| Q1 2025 | $6.4B | +3.7% |
| Q4 2024 | $6.6B | -7.7% |
FLEX's revenue has grown year over year for seven quarters in a row: $8.5B last quarter, up 25% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 4.9% | +0.5 points |
| Q2 2026 | 4.9% | +0.2 points |
| Q1 2026 | 5% | +0.2 points |
| Q4 2025 | 5.5% | +0.4 points |
| Q3 2025 | 4.3% | -0.2 points |
| Q2 2025 | 4.7% | +1 points |
| Q1 2025 | 4.8% | +2.2 points |
| Q4 2024 | 5.1% | +0.2 points |
FLEX has the edge over AAOI on profitability, with a higher operating margin.
AAOI Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -$369.9M | -$291.2M |
| Q2 2026 | -$265.3M | -$174.4M |
| Q1 2026 | -$143.6M | -$64.3M |
| Q4 2025 | -$104.6M | -$51.6M |
| Q3 2025 | -$78.7M | -$58M |
| Q2 2025 | -$91M | -$86M |
| Q1 2025 | -$79.3M | -$45.1M |
| Q4 2024 | -$53M | -$48.4M |
AAOI has burned cash in almost every quarter: −$883M over the past year, against −$302M the year before.
FLEX Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $260M | -14% |
| Q2 2026 | $40M | -85% |
| Q1 2026 | $211M | -34% |
| Q4 2025 | $272M | -9.6% |
| Q3 2025 | $303M | +40% |
| Q2 2025 | $266M | +16% |
| Q1 2025 | $321M | -46% |
| Q4 2024 | $301M | +95% |
FLEX has the edge over AAOI on cash generation, producing positive trailing cash flow while its opponent burns cash.
AAOI Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +7.7% | +6.3M shares |
| 1 year | +39% | +24.5M shares |
| 3 years | +168% | +55.1M shares |
| 5 years | +224% | +60.7M shares |
| Available history | +340% | +67.9M shares |
AAOI has 88M diluted shares, up 39% from a year ago.
FLEX Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | 0% | -- |
| 1 year | -1.6% | -6M shares |
| 3 years | -17% | -74M shares |
| 5 years | -23% | -113M shares |
| Available history | -27% | -136M shares |
FLEX has the edge over AAOI on shareholder dilution, with a more favorable share count trend.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | — |
| Q2 2026 | — |
| Q1 2026 | $200M |
| Q4 2025 | $200M |
| Q3 2025 | $297M |
| Q2 2025 | $247M |
| Q1 2025 | $299M |
| Q4 2024 | $201M |
FLEX spent $400M buying back its own shares over the past year, down 62% from the year before.
AAOI Net Leverage
AAOI's operating earnings (EBITDA) were negative over the past year, so its debt can't be measured against them.
FLEX Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 1.0x | Healthy |
| Q2 2026 | 1.2x | Healthy |
| Q1 2026 | 0.7x | Very low |
| Q4 2019 | 1.9x | Healthy |
FLEX's net debt is about a year of its operating earnings (EBITDA).
AAOI Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 35.1 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 4.8 | Oversold |
AAOI's weekly RSI is 35 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 5 (oversold).
FLEX Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 39.1 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 15.8 | Oversold |
FLEX's weekly RSI is 39 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 16 (oversold).
AAOI PE vs Technology Sector
AAOI has no meaningful PE right now: it lost money over the past year.
FLEX PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | FLEX | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 28x | 28x | 1.2% above |
| PE % | 80 | 35 | 45 pts above |
FLEX is trading at 28x earnings, in line with the Technology sector's median of 28x.
AAOI Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $80.2 | 34% below |
| 20 week MA | $100.6 | 47% below |
| 50 week MA | $100.3 | 47% below |
| 100 week MA | $62.3 | 15% below |
| 200 week MA | $36.9 | 43% above |
AAOI has fallen below most of its moving averages, though it's still 43% above its 200-week average.
FLEX Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $94.1 | 17% below |
| 20 week MA | $109.0 | 28% below |
| 50 week MA | $96.6 | 19% below |
| 100 week MA | $71.6 | 9.2% above |
| 200 week MA | $49.6 | 57% above |
FLEX has the edge over AAOI on trend strength, trading above more of its moving averages.
AAOI Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $11.5 | $8.77 | -24% |
| 2021 | $8.77 | $5.64 | -36% |
| 2022 | $5.64 | $1.95 | -65% |
| 2023 | $1.95 | $19.3 | +891% |
| 2024 | $19.3 | $37.7 | +95% |
| 2025 | $37.7 | $37.2 | -1.5% |
| 2026 YTD | $37.2 | $52.9 | +42% |
AAOI has the edge over FLEX on returns for 2026, with the stronger performance.
FLEX Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $12.7 | $18.2 | +43% |
| 2021 | $18.2 | $17.8 | -2.1% |
| 2022 | $17.8 | $21.5 | +21% |
| 2023 | $21.5 | $22.2 | +3.2% |
| 2024 | $22.2 | $39.1 | +77% |
| 2025 | $39.1 | $63.3 | +62% |
| 2026 YTD | $63.3 | $78.1 | +23% |
FLEX has finished higher in five of the last six years, two of them by more than 50%. It's up 23% so far in 2026.