AAOI vs CSCO vs FTNT Stock Comparison

Applied Optoelectronics, Cisco Systems and Fortinet Prices as of Oct 28, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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CSCO Cisco Systems, Inc.
$110.29 +3.3% 1M +51.9% 1Y
Market cap
$429.34B
P/E
32.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$63.33B
Div. yield
–
Networking Equipment Technology
8 wins
FTNT Fortinet, Inc.
$174.08 -1.3% 1M +102.7% 1Y
Market cap
$98.96B
P/E
43.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$7.88B
Div. yield
–
Cybersecurity Software Technology

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Cisco Systems leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Cisco Systems 8, Applied Optoelectronics 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAAOICSCOFTNTLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $6.60B $429.34B $98.96B CSCO
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -115.8x 32.4x 43.4x CSCO
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 115.8x 23.3x 48.6x CSCO
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +61.8% +11.8% +20.2% AAOI
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -9.6% 21.0% — CSCO
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital -4.2% 15.9% — CSCO
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 13.8x 0.8x — CSCO
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +123.0% +51.9% +102.7% AAOI
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +60.8%/yr +14.5%/yr +21.0%/yr AAOI
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 139.0% 35.5% 43.2% CSCO
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 33/100 55/100 52/100 CSCO

Percentile Scorecard

AAOICSCOFTNT

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisAAOICSCOFTNT
Valuation 12 #98 of 111 33 #75 of 111 31 #86 of 124
Growth 54 #50 of 108 40 #65 of 108 67 #38 of 113
Profitability 17 #87 of 104 88 #13 of 104 96 #5 of 109
Financial Health 72 #33 of 115 31 #80 of 115 15 #108 of 127
Shareholder Returns 9 #71 of 78 82 #15 of 78 –
Overall 33 55 52
  • AAOI ranked among 121 companies in Computer Hardware
  • CSCO ranked among 121 companies in Computer Hardware
  • FTNT ranked among 137 companies in Infrastructure Software

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodAAOICSCOFTNTSPY
1 month -15.1%+3.3%-1.3% +0.9%
3 months +7.4%-1.9%+13.6% +5.9%
6 months -46.2%+23.1%+102.2% +8.5%
Year to date +135.9%+43.2%+119.2% +13.3%
1 year +123.0%+51.9%+102.7% +12.4%
3 years +1,067.9%+113.9%+209.4% +88.1%
3 years, per year +127.0%+28.9%+45.8% +23.5%
5 years +974.8%+97.1%+158.8% +68.2%
5 years, per year +60.8%+14.5%+21.0% +11.0%
10 years +317.6%+260.5%+2,637.1% +263.4%
10 years, per year +15.4%+13.7%+39.2% +13.8%

Risk

MeasureAAOICSCOFTNTSPY
Volatility, 1Y 139.0%35.5%43.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 127.1%37.1%38.7% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 4.321.100.98 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.891.462.38 0.98
Max drawdown, 5Y -82.6%-38.6%-38.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -63.1%-15.2%-10.6% -0.9%
52-week high $223.10$130.00$194.75 $779.14
52-week low $19.49$71.04$75.23 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleAAOICSCOFTNT
P/E now vs peer median -117.6xmedian 33.5x 32.9xmedian 33.5x 55.9xmedian 37.9x
P/S now vs peer median 11.6xmedian 2.8x 6.9xmedian 2.8x 16.2xmedian 4.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median -202.3xmedian 19.6x 25.1xmedian 19.6x —median 34.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median -11.5xmedian 29.8x 34.1xmedian 29.8x 41.4xmedian 26.6x
P/B now vs peer median 4.2xmedian 2.9x 8.7xmedian 2.9x 56.8xmedian 3.4x
PEG now vs peer median -3.54median 1.10 12.20median 1.10 1.96median 1.24

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsAAOICSCOFTNT
Revenue $595.97M $63.33B $7.88B
Gross profit $172.33M $40.86B –
Operating income -$67.41M $15.37B $2.60B
Net income -$57.02M $13.27B $2.28B
Free cash flow -$600.81M $12.77B –
R&D $107.61M $9.56B $857.40M
EPS (diluted) $-0.70 $3.33 $3.08
Cash & equivalents $499.74M $7.22B $3.75B
Total debt $57.26M $29.53B –
Shares (diluted) 81.57M 3.99B 739.90M
Enterprise value $5.32B $365.26B $98.96B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricAAOICSCOFTNT
P/E -117.6x 32.9x 55.9x
P/FCF -11.5x 34.1x 41.4x
P/Operating cash flow -52.6x 30.7x 34.6x
P/S 11.6x 6.9x 16.2x
P/B 4.2x 8.7x 56.8x
P/Tangible book 4.2x 10.2x 56.8x
EV/EBITDA -202.3x 25.1x –
EV/EBIT -96.4x 29.2x –
EV/Revenue 10.9x 7.1x 16.2x
EV/FCF -10.8x 35.2x –
EV/Operating cash flow -49.3x 31.7x 34.6x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -3.54 12.20 1.96

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAAOICSCOFTNT
Revenue growth (1Y) 61.8% 11.8% 20.2%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 40.9% 3.6% 15.1%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 62.0% 11.1% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 73.3% 4.6% –
Operating income growth (1Y) -40.6% 30.7% 27.8%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -2.8% 0.7% 28.9%
Net income growth (1Y) 63.4% 30.3% 21.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 6.2% 1.7% 25.6%
EPS growth (1Y) 74.5% 30.7% 25.3%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 33.2% 2.7% 28.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 15.2% -0.1% 50.6%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -168.6% -10.7% 17.5%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -146.3% -3.9% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -294.2% -12.5% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAAOICSCOFTNT
Gross margin 28.9% 64.5% –
EBITDA margin -5.4% 28.3% –
Operating margin -11.3% 24.3% –
Pretax margin -10.6% 25.3% –
Net margin -9.6% 21.0% –
FCF margin -100.8% 20.2% –
Operating cash flow margin -22.1% 22.4% 46.8%
Return on equity -4.1% 26.8% 120.1%
Return on assets -2.9% 10.4% 20.0%
Return on invested capital -4.2% 15.9% –
Return on capital employed -4.5% 17.9% –
Asset turnover 0.3x 0.5x 0.7x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.3x 1.1x 1.6x
Stock comp / revenue 2.6% 6.0% 3.9%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAAOICSCOFTNT
Debt / assets 2.5% 22.8% –
Debt / equity 0.0x 0.6x –
Net debt / EBITDA 13.8x 0.8x –
Debt / FCF -0.1x 2.3x –
Liabilities / assets 27.5% 61.2% 81.2%
Equity / assets 72.5% 38.8% 18.8%
Interest coverage -19.1x 10.5x –
Current ratio 2.8x 0.9x 1.4x
Quick ratio 1.9x 0.6x –
Cash ratio 1.2x 0.4x –
Altman Z-score 6.81 4.16 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAAOICSCOFTNT
Dividend yield – 1.5% –
Net buyback yield -19.5% 1.3% –
Shareholder yield -19.5% 2.8% –
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusAAOICSCOFTNT
Forward P/E 115.8xFY2026 23.3xFY2027 48.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $0.71FY2026 $4.74FY2027 $3.58FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – +9.5%FY2027 +29.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +646.5% +20.7% +0.8%
Revenue, next fiscal year $994.70MFY2026 $74.93BFY2027 $8.38BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +118.3%FY2026 +18.3%FY2027 +23.2%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +185.6% +0.6% +13.2%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAAOICSCOFTNT
Held by institutions 60.5% 80.1% 68.6%
Institutions holding 481 4,046 1,567
Change in shares held, QoQ -3.5% +5.0% +23.7%
Institutions buying 313 1,847 854
Institutions selling 143 1,817 549
Buyers to sellers 2.19 1.02 1.56

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

AAOICSCOFTNT
AAOI 1.00 0.33 0.06
CSCO 0.33 1.00 0.27
FTNT 0.06 0.27 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, AAOI, CSCO and FTNT?

Cisco Systems (CSCO) is the largest by market capitalisation: Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) $6.60B, Cisco Systems (CSCO) $429.34B, Fortinet (FTNT) $98.96B.

Which stock is cheaper, AAOI, CSCO and FTNT?

Cisco Systems (CSCO) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) -115.8x, Cisco Systems (CSCO) 32.4x, Fortinet (FTNT) 43.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Cisco Systems (CSCO) is cheapest (Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) 115.8x, Cisco Systems (CSCO) 23.3x, Fortinet (FTNT) 48.6x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) +61.8%, Cisco Systems (CSCO) +11.8%, Fortinet (FTNT) +20.2%.

Which company is more profitable?

Cisco Systems (CSCO) has the highest net margin (Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) -9.6%, Cisco Systems (CSCO) 21.0%). On return on invested capital, Cisco Systems (CSCO) leads (Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) -4.2%, Cisco Systems (CSCO) 15.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) returned the most: Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) +123.0%, Cisco Systems (CSCO) +51.9%, Fortinet (FTNT) +102.7%. Over five years, Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) compounded fastest (Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) +60.8%/yr, Cisco Systems (CSCO) +14.5%/yr, Fortinet (FTNT) +21.0%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Cisco Systems (CSCO) has been the steadiest (Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) 139.0%, Cisco Systems (CSCO) 35.5%, Fortinet (FTNT) 43.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, AAOI, CSCO and FTNT?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Cisco Systems (CSCO) leads on 8. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.