nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $75.44, but opened at $58.27. nLight shares last traded at $61.2920, with a volume of 929,333 shares changing hands.

nLight News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter results exceeded expectations: adjusted earnings were $0.15 per share versus the $0.14 consensus, while revenue reached $82.6 million, ahead of the $78.6 million estimate and up 33.8% year over year. Results were supported by continued demand in defense and advanced manufacturing. nLIGHT Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management said second-quarter revenue, gross margin and adjusted EBITDA were at or above expectations, indicating solid execution and operating momentum. nLight Q2 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: nLIGHT plans to participate in Needham and Jefferies investor conferences during the third quarter, providing opportunities to discuss its strategy, defense-market demand and outlook with investors. nLIGHT Upcoming Investor Events
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue guidance of $63 million to $73 million has a midpoint of $68 million, slightly below the $69.1 million analyst consensus. The cautious outlook likely overshadowed the second-quarter earnings beat and raised concerns about near-term growth.
• Negative Sentiment: nLIGHT remains unprofitable, with a negative net margin of 5.08% and negative return on equity of 4.18%. A Zacks Research downgrade from “strong buy” to “hold” added further pressure to investor sentiment. nLight Earnings Report

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on LASR. Craig Hallum raised their target price on nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on nLight in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, nLight has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.94.

nLight Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.73. The company has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -201.37 and a beta of 2.31.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. nLight had a negative net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $82.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. nLight’s revenue was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at nLight

In other news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,817 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.90, for a total transaction of $278,259.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 169,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,386,803.50. This trade represents a 2.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 16,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total value of $1,200,239.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,003,909.40. This trade represents a 0.73% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 391,038 shares of company stock valued at $28,367,419. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC boosted its holdings in nLight by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC now owns 103,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 19,435 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of nLight by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,166,000 after purchasing an additional 125,446 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of nLight in the fourth quarter worth about $788,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of nLight during the 4th quarter worth about $776,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of nLight during the 1st quarter worth about $1,847,000. 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. 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.