AI Stocks Skyrocket Monday: Bloom Energy (BE), Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI), and Ciena (CIEN) Soar

Artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure stocks are staging a meaningful rebound this Monday afternoon, outperforming a broader market still digesting Friday’s volatility spike. After a sector-wide selloff on March 6 pushed the VIX Volatility Index to 29.49, index rebalancing that included AI-adjacent names appears to be acting as a broad catalyst lifting the group. Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE), Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI), and Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) are all trading sharply higher, and today’s moves look less like speculation and more like a market correcting an overreaction.

Stock Friday (Mar 6) Change Today’s Price (Mar 9) Today’s Intraday Direction BE (Bloom Energy) -15.5% (closed at $135.19) $147.83 Trading higher vs. Friday’s close AAOI (Applied Optoelectronics) -5.5% (closed at $95.58) $102.81 Back above Friday’s open CIEN (Ciena) -1.71% (closed at $294.17) $310.30 Pushing to new recent highs Bloom Energy (BE): AI Power Demand Drives the Rebound

Bloom Energy stock is trading at $147.83 today, recovering sharply from Friday’s close of $135.19. The stock is up 69.66% year-to-date from $86.89 at year-end 2025, and has gained 538.71% over the past year from $23.08.

The business story here is straightforward. Bloom Energy makes solid oxide fuel cell systems that generate power on-site, directly at the customer’s location. For AI data centers that need massive, uninterrupted electricity, that is not a nice-to-have; it’s a necessity. CEO KR Sridhar put it plainly: “Bring-your-own-power has shifted from a slogan to a business necessity for AI hyperscalers.”

The numbers back that up. Q4 2025 revenue came in at $777.68 million, up 35.9% year-over-year, beating estimates of $655.31 million by 18.67%. The company also reported a $5 billion strategic AI infrastructure partnership with Brookfield Asset Management and carries a total backlog of approximately $20 billion, with a product backlog of roughly $6 billion, up about 2.5x year-over-year. We recently compared Bloom Energy to Plug Power, and the divergence in the stocks’ trajectories tells you everything about what execution looks like in this space.

Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI): Hyperscaler Orders Fuel the Momentum

Meanwhile, Applied Optoelectronics stock is trading at $102.81, recovering from Friday’s close of $95.58 and back above Friday’s open. The one-year gain here is 551.71% from $15.82, and the one-month gain of 132.73% from $44.30 is the kind of move that makes even seasoned investors do a double-take. Year-to-date, the stock is up 195.75%.

Applied Optoelectronics makes the fiberoptic transceivers and lasers that move data at blinding speed inside AI data centers. Think of them as the plumbing inside the machine.

The company hit record Q4 2025 revenue of $134.27M, up 33.9% year-over-year, and beat EPS estimates by over 90%. CEO Thompson Lin set the tone heading into 2026, declaring, “We have considerable momentum entering 2026, and we believe we are well positioned to accelerate our growth this year.”

The company is guiding for Q1 2026 revenue of $150 million to $165 million, with full-year 2026 revenue potentially exceeding $1 billion. One watchpoint: the company’s chief legal officer, David C. Kuo, sold over 12,000 shares in January 2026, which is worth monitoring as the stock continues its run.

Ciena (CIEN): Optical Networking Rides the AI Wave

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) is trading at $310.30, up from Friday’s close of $294.17 and pushing toward new recent highs. The one-year gain stands at 351.11% from $68.93, with a year-to-date gain of 32.96% and a stunning 10-year ascent of 1,671.79%.

Ciena provides the optical networking hardware and software that ties together the world’s largest cloud and AI infrastructure. When hyperscalers build out, Ciena wins.

CEO Gary Smith described current conditions as “unprecedented, broad-based demand as we enable customers to monetize their AI investments.” The most recent quarter showed Direct Cloud Provider revenue up 76% year-over-year, representing 42% of total revenue, and the company raised its FY2026 guidance to $5.9 billion to $6.3 billion. One item worth flagging: company insiders sold shares in January 2026, with separate filings totaling over $548,000 and $2.6 million. This doesn’t change the fundamental picture, but it is worth noting.

AI Stocks: The Big Picture

Friday’s sell-off across this group looks, in hindsight, like a volatility-driven overreaction in a market where the VIX surged nearly 25% in a single day to elevated levels. Today’s rebound in Bloom Energy, Applied Optoelectronics, and Ciena reflects renewed investor conviction in the AI infrastructure buildout narrative.

Moreover, index rebalancing is adding fuel and the fundamentally bullish backdrop hasn’t changed. The underlying demand for power, optical components, and high-speed networking is not going anywhere.

That said, these are high-beta stocks with significant volatility. Whether today’s gains hold in the coming days and weeks will be the real test of the market’s conviction in the AI infrastructure buildout narrative.