Loading…
Makes high-power fiber lasers for industrial cutting/welding, aerospace/defense and directed-energy applications.
Makes high-power fiber lasers for industrial cutting/welding, aerospace/defense and directed-energy applications.
Sells fibre lasers and components to industrial laser integrators and to the defence industry, where work is often funded in stages by government development contracts before volume production. The business is shifting from metal-cutting lasers, a cyclical industrial market, toward aerospace and defence programmes, which last for years. It makes its own diode chips.
Moat: narrow (IP / patents, process know-how). Proprietary fiber-laser design and defense program qualifications are costly for rivals to replicate.
Headquarters: Camas, Washington, US · Founded: 2000 · Employees: 800
Size nLIGHT (LASR) is a United States Information Technology company (Semiconductors) with a market value of $2.19B, the 1731st largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $75.44 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 72.0%, against -32.6% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 43.2% over the last twelve months (peer median +16.2%); the operating margin is -4.6% (peer median 6.1%).
Valuation It trades at 61.8× forward earnings against a peer median of 28.7× (4th most expensive of 16).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 39% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +3%, so the hurdle is +36 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 26.2 points below its cost of capital (17.1% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $200,000 at 30 Sep 2025, down 98% on a year earlier — 0.0 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Short interest Short interest is 5.1% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 18 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $311M | $261M | $199M | $210M | $242M |
| Revenue growth | — | +32% | -5% | -13% | — |
| Gross profit | $97.9M | $78.0M | $33.0M | $46.1M | $50.8M |
| EBITDA | $940,000 | -$9.95M | -$43.7M | -$29.9M | -$32.5M |
| Net income | -$12.5M | -$23.5M | -$60.8M | -$41.7M | -$54.6M |
| Free cash flow | $41.8M | $12.3M | -$10.3M | $4.75M | -$35.9M |
| Capital expenditure | $11.3M | $9.03M | $7.93M | $5.34M | $21.7M |
| Total debt | $14.8M | $36.2M | $12.1M | $14.2M | $15.6M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nLIGHT LASR | $2.19B | +72% | +43% | -5% | 61.8× | 39.2% |
| IPG Photonics IPGP | $2.78B | -38% | +15% | 5% | 32.8× | 24.8% |
| Coherent COHR | $38.0B | -42% | +23% | 14% | 16.6× | n/a |
| Lumentum LITE | $48.9B | -40% | +103% | 23% | 18.8× | 41.7% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | LASR | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +28.6% | -20.3% | highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +72.0% | -32.6% | highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -13.2% | -56.9% | highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +43.2% | +16.2% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | -4.6% | 6.1% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 61.8× | 28.7× | 4th most expensive of 16 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 39.2% | 33.2% | 3rd most demanding of 11 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +3.2% | +19.4% | 4th lowest of 11 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +36.0 pp | +16.5 pp | 2nd most demanding of 11 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -26.2 pp | -6.1 pp | 2nd lowest of 21 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -335.8× | -1.0× | least indebted of 7 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nLIGHT LASR | United States | $2.19B | +72% | +43% | -5% | 61.8× | 39.2% | +3.2% |
| Wuxi Taclink Optoelectronics Technology 688205.SS | China | $2.20B | -62% | +20% | 3% | 180.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Guangdong Tianyu Semiconductor 2658.HK | Hong Kong | $2.17B | -3% | +52% | -30% | 59.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Xiamen UX IC 688807.SS | China | $2.22B | -48% | +26% | 13% | 144.5× | n/a | n/a |
| Ennostar 3714.TW | Taiwan | $2.23B | -23% | -5% | -13% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Union Semiconductor (Hefei) 688403.SS | China | $2.15B | -14% | +13% | 3% | 56.1× | n/a | n/a |
| POWI POWI | United States | $2.25B | -45% | +2% | 8% | 22.9× | 35.9% | -1.9% |
| Shanghai Belling Corp.,Ltd 600171.SS | China | $2.14B | -30% | +11% | 4% | n/a | 39.4% | +19.1% |
| GCL System Integration Technology 002506.SZ | China | $2.26B | -39% | -32% | -10% | n/a | 31.8% | +20.8% |
| Elmos Semiconductor ELG.DE | Germany | $2.13B | -36% | +9% | 20% | 16.2× | 12.9% | +20.2% |
| Xiamen Changelight 300102.SZ | China | $2.26B | -50% | -38% | -2% | 71.3× | 34.6% | +21.1% |
| Giantec Semiconductor 688123.SS | China | $2.27B | -23% | +13% | 22% | 23.3× | 39.2% | +19.8% |
| Micronics Japan 6871.T | Japan | $2.11B | -33% | +38% | 28% | 14.1× | n/a | n/a |
| Hermes Testing Solutions 7856.TWO | Taiwan | $2.29B | -32% | +52% | 12% | 46.2× | 52.1% | +51.8% |
| Beijing BDStar Navigation 002151.SZ | China | $2.10B | -36% | +35% | -14% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| China Wafer Level CSP 603005.SS | China | $2.10B | -31% | +7% | 23% | 28.7× | 28.3% | +6.2% |
| Chunghwa Precision Test Tech 6510.TWO | Taiwan | $2.30B | -37% | +24% | 32% | 28.3× | 24.4% | +2.7% |
| Ferrotec 6890.T | Japan | $2.08B | -19% | +43% | 12% | 8.3× | n/a | n/a |
| NVTS NVTS | United States | $2.32B | -53% | -29% | -273% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics 300613.SZ | China | $2.35B | +14% | +91% | 26% | 43.1× | n/a | n/a |
| MLS 002745.SZ | China | $2.36B | +11% | +19% | -4% | 24.0× | 2.4% | +0.1% |
nLIGHT reported $200,000 of remaining performance obligations at 30 Sep 2025, down 98% from a year earlier. That is 0.0 years of trailing revenue already under contract.