nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• nLight has been upgraded from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, alongside upgrades from other analysts raising price targets significantly.
• The company's recent earnings report surpassed expectations with a revenue of $61.74 million, indicating a 22.2% year-over-year increase.
• CFO and CEO transactions revealed insider selling, with CFO Joseph John Corso and CEO Scott H. Keeney selling shares recently, reflecting minor decreases in their respective positions.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on LASR. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on nLight from $12.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on nLight from $18.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Craig Hallum reissued a "buy" rating and set a $24.00 price objective (up previously from $14.00) on shares of nLight in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on nLight from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "speculative buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.42.

nLight Stock Performance

NASDAQ LASR traded down $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $31.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,228,427 shares, compared to its average volume of 880,649. The company has a quick ratio of 4.41, a current ratio of 5.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $25.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.82 and a beta of 2.44. nLight has a 52 week low of $6.20 and a 52 week high of $31.93.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In related news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 15,391 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.84, for a total value of $443,876.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,381,545 shares of the company's stock, valued at $68,683,757.80. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,588 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $106,671.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 265,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,890,877.14. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 346,155 shares of company stock worth $9,371,219. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in nLight by 72.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 209,644 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,199,000 after buying an additional 87,788 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in nLight by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,667,332 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,495,000 after buying an additional 74,163 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in nLight in the 1st quarter valued at $388,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its stake in nLight by 140.4% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Keeley Teton Advisors LLC boosted its stake in nLight by 89.7% in the first quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC now owns 127,356 shares of the company's stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 60,221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company's stock.

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.