What Happened?
Shares of laser company nLIGHT (NASDAQ: LASR) jumped 5.8% in the afternoon session after Stifel raised its price target to $85 from $75, citing impressive directed energy offerings and growth in the company's defense business.
The investment firm highlighted nLIGHT's new HADES product line and noted potential for increased international sales and additional defense applications. The bullish outlook is supported by nLIGHT's strong first-quarter 2026 financial results, which surpassed analysts' expectations.
During the quarter, the company's revenue from its aerospace and defense segment grew by 69%. Management also provided an upbeat forecast for its directed-energy laser products, citing improving profitability as it exits lower-margin legacy businesses. Following the strong results, Needham also increased its price target on the stock to $80 from $70, reinforcing the positive sentiment.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
nLIGHT’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 59 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 13 days ago when the stock gained 11% on the news that it reported strong first-quarter 2026 financial results that significantly surpassed analyst expectations for both revenue and earnings.
The company announced total revenue of $80.18 million, a 55.2% increase from the same period last year, which was well ahead of forecasts. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.20, more than doubling the consensus estimate of $0.08. The company's profitability also saw a marked improvement, with free cash flow turning positive at $7.57 million compared to a loss of $2.30 million in the prior year's quarter.
Looking ahead, nLIGHT provided optimistic guidance for the second quarter, with its revenue forecast of $78 million at the midpoint coming in nearly 10% above what analysts were expecting.
nLIGHT is up 97.5% since the beginning of the year, but at $75.77 per share, it is still trading 10.8% below its 52-week high of $84.95 from May 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of nLIGHT’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,727.
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