2016-08-25 10:31:29 | Applied Optoelectronics jumps after Facebook seen as new datacenter customerAfter Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) announced this morning that it had received "initial orders" from a new customer for its datacenter products, research firm Cowen says that the orders appear to have come from Facebook (FB). The shares of Applied Optoelectronics, which develops fiber-optic access network products, are rallying on the news. NEW CUSTOMER: Applied Optoelectronics said that it had received "initial orders" for its 40 Gbps QSFP+ and 100 Gbps QSFP28 optical transceiver modules from a "new hyper-scale datacenter customer." The order from the "large datacenter customer" consists of "more than 10,000 transceivers of various product types" and will be delivered "over the next couple of quarters," the company stated. FACEBOOK PROBABLY THE CUSTOMER: Cowen analyst Paul Silverstein believes that Facebook is the unnamed customer to which Applied Optoelectronics is referring, he told investors in a research note. The two biggest players in the cloud, Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT), have already agreed to buy 100G transceivers from Applied Optoelectronics, according to Silverstein. Over the long-term, Applied Optoelectronics can obtain as much as $100M of revenue from the social media giant, the analyst estimated. Moreover, the trend of datacenters upgrading to 100G transceivers should provide the company with a "significant and long-duration opportunity," according to Silverstein, who kept a $21 price target and Outperform rating on the shares. PRICE ACTION: In early trading, Applied Optoelectronics rose 7.5% to $14.93. | |
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