AAOI
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.
AAOI has the edge over SOTK overall, supported by stronger modeled upside and stronger valuation.
SOTK
Sono-Tek Corporation
SOTK has lower modeled downside risk, despite its lower overall score.
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.
SOTK Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Stable | |
| Healthy | |
| Strong | |
| Strong |
SOTK's profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are currently healthy, and its revenue is stable.
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.
SOTK PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current | 36x | $4.33 | — |
| Cheap | 38x | $4.61 | +6.4% |
| Fair | 48x | $5.82 | +34% |
| Forward | 51x | $4.33 | — |
| Expensive | 71x | $8.51 | +97% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
SOTK's PE is in its cheap range at 36x. Analysts expect earnings to fall, which would put today's price at 51x next year's earnings, in its fair range.
AAOI Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| -- | |
| Returning to profit | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Limited | |
| Low |
AAOI has the edge over SOTK on the outlook, with more favorable earnings and revenue expectations.
SOTK Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly deteriorating | |
| Strong decline | |
| Stable | |
| Strongly weakening | |
| Limited | |
| High |
Analysts expect SOTK's earnings and profitability to decline, with its revenue holding steady.
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.
SOTK Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $0.08 | -29% |
| Q3 2026 | $0.12 | +20% |
| Q2 2026 | $0.13 | +44% |
| Q1 2026 | $0.11 | +38% |
| Q4 2025 | $0.10 | +25% |
| Q3 2025 | $0.10 | 0% |
| Q2 2025 | $0.09 | -18% |
| Q1 2025 | $0.08 | -11% |
| Q4 2024 | $0.08 | +14% |
SOTK 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 SOTK 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.
SOTK Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $5.2M | +1.3% |
| Q2 2026 | $5.7M | +10% |
| Q1 2026 | $5.6M | +9.5% |
| Q4 2025 | $5M | -3.6% |
| Q3 2025 | $5.2M | 0% |
| Q2 2025 | $5.1M | +2% |
| Q1 2025 | $5.1M | +7.4% |
| Q4 2024 | $5.2M | -8.8% |
SOTK's revenue is growing: $5M last quarter, up 1.3% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 7.3% | -0.9 points |
| Q2 2026 | 16% | +6.4 points |
| Q1 2026 | 11% | +5.1 points |
| Q4 2025 | 6.4% | +2.6 points |
| Q3 2025 | 8.2% | +2.6 points |
| Q2 2025 | 9.4% | +4.7 points |
| Q1 2025 | 5.6% | +5.9 points |
| Q4 2024 | 3.8% | -8.8 points |
SOTK 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.
SOTK Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $1.1M | +$1.4M |
| Q2 2026 | $1.9M | +$2.8M |
| Q1 2026 | $3.1M | +$3.8M |
| Q4 2025 | $1.1M | +5.9% |
| Q3 2025 | -$237.3K | +$338.8K |
| Q2 2025 | -$974.5K | -430% |
| Q1 2025 | -$740K | +$6.5K |
| Q4 2024 | $1.1M | +323% |
SOTK 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.
SOTK Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +0.4% | +68.8K shares |
| 1 year | +0.5% | +74.5K shares |
| 3 years | +0.2% | +32.5K shares |
| 5 years | +1.3% | +204K shares |
| Available history | +2.8% | +434K shares |
SOTK has the edge over AAOI on shareholder dilution, with a more favorable share count trend.
AAOI Net Leverage
AAOI's operating earnings (EBITDA) were negative over the past year, so its debt can't be measured against them.
SOTK Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -3.7x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2026 | -3.1x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2025 | -2.5x | Net Cash |
| Q3 2025 | -1.9x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2025 | -2.5x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2025 | -3.0x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2024 | -5.8x | Net Cash |
| Q3 2024 | -3.1x | Net Cash |
SOTK has more cash than debt.
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).
SOTK Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 42.8 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 8.7 | Oversold |
SOTK's weekly RSI is 43 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 9 (oversold).
AAOI PE vs Technology Sector
AAOI has no meaningful PE right now: it lost money over the past year.
SOTK PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | SOTK | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 36x | 28x | 30% above |
| PE % | 8 | 35 | 27 pts below |
SOTK is trading at 36x earnings, a 30% premium to 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.
SOTK Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $5.39 | 20% below |
| 20 week MA | $5.24 | 17% below |
| 50 week MA | $4.73 | 8.5% below |
| 100 week MA | $4.30 | 0.7% above |
| 200 week MA | $4.61 | 6.1% below |
SOTK's trend is mixed: it's above one of its five weekly moving averages, and 6.1% below its 200-week average.
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 SOTK on returns for 2026, with the stronger performance.
SOTK Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $2.25 | $4.20 | +87% |
| 2021 | $4.20 | $6.77 | +61% |
| 2022 | $6.77 | $6.41 | -5.3% |
| 2023 | $6.41 | $5.41 | -16% |
| 2024 | $5.41 | $4.30 | -21% |
| 2025 | $4.30 | $4.06 | -5.6% |
| 2026 YTD | $4.06 | $4.33 | +6.7% |
SOTK has finished four years in a row lower, and it's up 6.7% so far in 2026.