nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Hits New 1-Year High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) shares reached a new 52-week high of $30.05, closing at $29.38 with a trading volume of 136,940 shares.
• Analysts have upgraded their price targets for nLight, with estimates ranging from $24.00 to $28.00, reflecting a positive outlook on the company, which is rated as a Buy by several analysts.
• The company's latest quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting a revenue of $61.74 million, marking a 22.2% year-over-year increase in revenue.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $30.05 and last traded at $29.38, with a volume of 136940 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $29.15.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LASR shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on nLight from $27.50 to $33.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on nLight from $12.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Benchmark increased their price target on nLight from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "speculative buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on nLight from $18.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $27.42.

nLight Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.29 and a beta of 2.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 4.41 and a current ratio of 5.63. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.04.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.15. nLight had a negative return on equity of 19.12% and a negative net margin of 21.66%.The business had revenue of $61.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.10) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. nLight has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts predict that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at nLight

In other nLight news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 38,284 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.29, for a total transaction of $1,083,054.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 273,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,726,508.22. This trade represents a 12.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 35,732 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.29, for a total transaction of $1,010,858.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,513,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,113,534.86. This represents a 1.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 368,019 shares of company stock worth $9,641,577. Insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LASR. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of nLight in the first quarter valued at $6,763,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its stake in shares of nLight by 140.4% in the first quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,207,580 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,383,000 after buying an additional 705,215 shares during the period. AIGH Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of nLight in the second quarter valued at $11,810,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in nLight during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,778,000. Finally, AWM Investment Company Inc. raised its holdings in nLight by 29.5% during the 1st quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 1,319,917 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,256,000 after acquiring an additional 300,924 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

nLight Company Profile

nLIGHT, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company operates in two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development. It offers semiconductor lasers with various ranges of power levels, wavelengths, and output fiber sizes; and programmable and serviceable fiber lasers for use in industrial and aerospace and defense applications.