nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $32.27 and last traded at $31.94, with a volume of 252572 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $31.10.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on LASR. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on nLight from $18.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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 lifted their target price on nLight from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “speculative buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Craig Hallum restated 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, nLight presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.42.

nLight Trading Down 0.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 5.63 and a quick ratio of 4.41. The stock has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.47 and a beta of 2.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $27.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.19.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $61.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.24 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 19.12% and a negative net margin of 21.66%.The firm’s revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.10) earnings per share. nLight has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at nLight

In other nLight news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 62,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.99, for a total value of $1,937,091.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,319,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,866,987.62. The trade was a 2.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 38,284 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.29, for a total transaction of $1,083,054.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 273,118 shares in the company, valued at $7,726,508.22. The trade was a 12.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 374,980 shares of company stock worth $10,650,501. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in nLight by 1,599.1% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,727 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in shares of nLight in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,546,000. State of Wyoming increased its position in shares of nLight by 37.2% during the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 20,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 5,489 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in shares of nLight during the 2nd quarter valued at about $364,000. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in nLight in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $227,000. 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.