nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Price Target Raised to $80.00 at Needham & Company LLC

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) had its target price upped by analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $70.00 to $80.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 20.86% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, February 27th. William Blair began coverage on nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.69.

nLight Stock Down 7.2%

Shares of NASDAQ LASR opened at $66.19 on Friday. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $8.23 and a fifty-two week high of $80.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.73. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -140.83 and a beta of 2.34.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. nLight had a negative net margin of 8.98% and a negative return on equity of 9.28%. The business had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.04) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other nLight news, CAO James Nias sold 3,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $201,308.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 95,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,930,005.72. This trade represents a 3.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Raymond A. Link sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.79, for a total value of $627,900.00. Following the sale, the director owned 92,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,847.04. The trade was a 9.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 130,780 shares of company stock worth $8,032,729. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in nLight by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,166,000 after acquiring an additional 125,446 shares during the period. Needham Investment Management LLC boosted its position in nLight by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,857,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,684,000 after acquiring an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in nLight by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,399,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,485,000 after acquiring an additional 341,948 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in nLight by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,234,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,320,000 after acquiring an additional 20,043 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in nLight during the 4th quarter worth about $41,315,000. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

nLight News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat expectations: nLight reported $0.20 EPS vs. $0.08 consensus and revenue of $80.18M vs. $72.14M consensus; revenue rose ~55% YoY, described as record results. nLight (LASR) Q1 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Raised Q2 revenue guidance: Company issued revenue guidance of $75.0M–$81.0M vs. Street ~$70.9M, signaling continued top-line strength into Q2. nLight earnings release / transcript
• Positive Sentiment: New product launch (HADES™): nLight introduced a family of high?energy directed?energy products targeted at defense customers, which could expand higher?margin, mission?critical sales. nLIGHT, Inc. Launches HADES™ Line of Directed Energy Products
• Positive Sentiment: European capacity expansion: Plans to expand operations in Torino, Italy to serve European/allied demand for assembled directed?energy solutions. nLIGHT, Inc. (LASR) Announces Expansion Plans for Existing Operations in Italy
• Neutral Sentiment: Conference call & transcript available with management color on demand trends, A&D strength, margin drivers and capital allocation; useful for assessing sustainability of results. nLIGHT (LASR) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability concerns remain: despite revenue/guidance beats, nLight reported a negative net margin (~-9%) and negative ROE; some analysts still forecast a full?year negative EPS, leaving the company reliant on sustained revenue growth and margin improvement. nLight Trading Snapshot / Metrics

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.