nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on LASR. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on nLight from $27.50 to $33.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on nLight from $12.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on nLight from $18.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on nLight from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “speculative buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, nLight presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $27.42.

nLight Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:LASR opened at $31.70 on Wednesday. nLight has a 52-week low of $6.20 and a 52-week high of $33.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.37 and a beta of 2.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 4.41 and a current ratio of 5.63.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $61.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.10) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. nLight has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In other nLight news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 62,507 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.99, for a total transaction of $1,937,091.93. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,319,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,866,987.62. This trade represents a 2.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,588 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 265,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,890,877.14. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 374,980 shares of company stock worth $10,650,501. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of nLight in the 1st quarter worth $6,763,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its stake in shares of nLight by 140.4% in the 1st quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,207,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,383,000 after buying an additional 705,215 shares during the last quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of nLight in the 2nd quarter worth $11,810,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of nLight in the 2nd quarter worth $6,778,000. Finally, AWM Investment Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of nLight by 29.5% in the 1st quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 1,319,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,256,000 after buying an additional 300,924 shares during the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.