nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Trading Down 6.4% - Here's Why

Key Points

• nLight shares fell 6.4% on Friday, trading as low as $73.00 after closing at $79.15, on volume far below average.
• Despite the drop, the company reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.20 beating estimates and revenue of $80.18 million topping forecasts by a wide margin, driven by 55.2% year-over-year growth.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed but generally positive: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus, while insiders have recently sold shares and institutional investors continue to hold a large majority of the stock.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) dropped 6.4% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $73.00 and last traded at $74.0720. Approximately 130,508 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 1,514,860 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.15.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LASR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on nLight in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $69.06.

nLight Trading Down 7.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -243.08 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $69.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.57.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The firm's revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total value of $2,497,510.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 177,572 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,501,068.80. This trade represents a 16.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 46,735 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $3,200,412.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,375,519 shares in the company, valued at $162,675,541.12. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 405,487 shares of company stock worth $27,566,119 over the last three months. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in nLight by 32.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 235,398 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,422,000 after buying an additional 58,272 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in nLight by 12.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,941 shares of the company's stock worth $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. Amundi acquired a new position in nLight in the first quarter worth $1,023,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in nLight by 67.9% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,783 shares of the company's stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in nLight by 25.0% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 55,097 shares of the company's stock worth $3,142,000 after purchasing an additional 11,012 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company's stock.

About nLight

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. The company also provides laser sensors, including light detection and ranging technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications; and fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and control systems for use in high-energy laser systems in directed energy applications.

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