LASR

Scott H. Keeney, President and Chief Executive Officer of nLIGHT, Inc. (NASDAQ:LASR), sold ~363,500 shares of common stock across August 21, 2026, and August 24, 2026 according to the SEC Form 4 filing. Transaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average sale price ($45.51); post-transaction value based on August 24, 2026 market close ($44.11). What prompted this disposition of common stock?The sale was executed pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted on May 22, 2026, and involved the immediate disposal of shares acquired through the exercise of 363,500 stock options that had become fully exercisable in 2021 and 2022. How does the transaction price compare to the company's recent market performance?The shares were sold at a weighted average price of $45.51, while the stock achieved a 57% total return during the 12-month period ending on the August 24, 2026 sale date. What is the extent of the insider's remaining equity exposure?Following this transaction, the CEO maintains a 4% ownership stake in the company, with total beneficial ownership comprising ~2.2 million shares and 181,750 remaining stock options outstanding. nLIGHT specializes in the development, production, and sale of advanced semiconductor and fiber lasers, along with fiber amplifiers and beam combination and control systems that serve industrial manufacturing, precision microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company generates revenue through the sale of sophisticated laser systems and related optical components to customers requiring high-performance photonic solutions. nLIGHT's primary customer base comprises industrial manufacturers, precision microfabrication specialists, and aerospace and defense contractors who depend on advanced laser technologies for mission-critical applications. nLIGHT, Inc. is a semiconductor and fiber laser manufacturer based in Camas. The company has demonstrated strong market momentum, with its stock appreciating 57% over the past twelve months, reflecting investor confidence in the growing demand for advanced laser technologies across industrial and defense sectors. nLIGHT's competitive positioning is anchored in its proprietary semiconductor and fiber laser technologies, which address high-value applications requiring precision, reliability, and performance specifications that differentiate its offerings in the photonics market. Although CEO Scott Keeney's Aug. 21 and Aug. 24 sale of nLIGHT stock was substantial, it was a non-discretionary transaction initiated as part of a pre-established Rule 10b5-1 plan. Such plans allow insiders to sell shares at predetermined times to avoid concerns of trading on non-public information. It involved the exercise and immediate disposition of stock options, a pattern common among executives. Moreover, Keeney retained 2.2 million directly held shares post-transaction. This is a sizable equity stake that ensures his continued alignment with shareholder interests. While nLIGHT stock gained 57% over the trailing 12 months through Aug. 24, shares were trending down after the company reported results for the second quarter on Aug. 6. The cause was due to supply chain challenges that impacted nLIGHT's third quarter revenue guidance by approximately $17 million. Otherwise, the company is doing well. Its Q2 revenue of $82.6 million represented a 34% year-over-year increase, as geopolitical conflicts, such as the U.S. war with Iran, and rising government defense budgets provided a tailwind to the company. Before you buy stock in nLIGHT, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and nLIGHT wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $431,488!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,279,584!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 958% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 212% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 25, 2026. Robert Izquierdo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. nLIGHT's CEO Sells Over 360,000 Shares for $16.5 Million as the Stock Drops Post-Earnings was originally published by The Motley Fool

nLIGHT’s second quarter saw strong revenue growth, surpassing Wall Street’s expectations, but the market reacted negatively due to concerns over future earnings and supply chain disruptions. Management attributed the robust sales to increased demand in both defense and advanced manufacturing, with significant contributions from new directed energy contracts and a growing pipeline in laser sensing applications. CEO Scott Keeney highlighted the importance of recent defense awards and record revenue from aerospace and defense segments. However, the company also faced rising operating expenses tied to higher compensation and research investments, which weighed on margins despite improved year-over-year performance. Is now the time to buy LASR? Find out in our full research report (it’s free). Revenue: $82.59 million vs analyst estimates of $78.93 million (33.8% year-on-year growth, 4.6% beat) Adjusted EPS: $0.15 vs analyst estimates of $0.14 (in line) Adjusted EBITDA: $10.73 million vs analyst estimates of $11 million (13% margin, 2.4% miss) Revenue Guidance for Q3 CY2026 is $68 million at the midpoint, roughly in line with what analysts were expecting EBITDA guidance for Q3 CY2026 is $4 million at the midpoint, below analyst estimates of $7.70 million Operating Margin: -4.3%, up from -6.9% in the same quarter last year Market Capitalization: $3.06 billion While we enjoy listening to the management’s commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls is the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Jonathan Siegmann (Stifel) asked how JLWS revenue ramps compare to potential declines from HELSI-2. CFO Joseph Corso said JLWS would “more than make up for” any HELSI-2 shortfall by 2027, with initial contributions starting in the current quarter. Louie Dipalma (William Blair) probed on technology differences between JLWS, HELSI-2, and HADES, and deployment timelines. CEO Scott Keeney explained JLWS leverages HADES’ scalable design, with fielding at scale dependent on budget cycles and prototype transitions over several years. James Ricchiuti (Needham & Company) pressed for clarity on the optical materials shortfall and its impact duration. Keeney and Corso explained the delay stemmed from China’s increased scrutiny on dual-use exports, with uncertainty over whether resolution would take “months to quarters.” Greg Palm (Craig-Hallum) inquired about mitigation strategies for the supply chain issues and whether defense programs could be impacted. Keeney said the company is qualifying new suppliers and redesigning products; Corso noted JLWS initial work is largely unaffected, but there is minor exposure through commercial components in defense products. Kieran McCabe (Cantor Fitzgerald) asked why Q3 guidance was unusually wide and for additive manufacturing trends. Corso clarified the wider range was solely due to supply chain uncertainty, while Keeney highlighted strong additive demand, especially in aerospace and rocketry applications. Looking ahead, the StockStory team will be watching (1) the pace of supply chain recovery and the company’s success in qualifying new suppliers, (2) the initial revenue impact and execution milestones of the JLWS directed energy contract, and (3) demand stability in additive manufacturing and microfabrication as legacy commercial segments wind down. Continued progress in defense applications and the outcome of planned product redesigns will also be key signposts. nLIGHT currently trades at $52.85, down from $75.44 just before the earnings. In the wake of this quarter, is it a buy or sell? See for yourself in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members). WHILE YOU’RE HERE: Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. The best stocks don’t just beat the market once. They do it again. And again. Robust revenue growth, rising free cash flow, returns on capital that leave their competition in the dust. The market has already rewarded these businesses. But our AI platform says the party isn’t over. Find out which 9 stocks made the cut this week — FREE. Get Our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks for Free HERE. Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,460% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+1,154% between June 2020 and June 2025). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.

Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026 at 5 p.m. ET VP of Corporate Development and the Head of Investor Relations - John Marchetti Chairman and CEO - Scott Keeney CFO - Joseph Corso Operator: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to nLIGHT's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to John Marchetti. John, please go ahead. John Marchetti: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss nLIGHT's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Results. I'm John Marchetti, nLIGHT's VP of Corporate Development and the Head of Investor Relations. And with me on the call today are Scott Keeney, nLIGHT's Chairman and CEO; and Joe Corso, nLIGHT's CFO. Today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements, including statements related to our financial projections and plans for our business, our growth opportunities and demand for our products, the impact of export controls and related supply chain challenges on our product manufacturing and delivery and our mitigation strategies to address such supply chain challenges. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these statements, including the risks mentioned in today's earnings release as well as other risks and uncertainties described from time to time in our SEC filings, including, without limitation, our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law. During the call, we will also be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. We have provided reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings press release and in our earnings presentation, both of which can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website. I will now turn the call over to nLIGHT's Chairman and CEO, Scott Keeney. Scott Keeney: Thank you, John. Q2 represented another strong quarter of execution for nLIGHT with revenue, gross margin and adjusted EBITDA at or above our expectations. Our second quarter revenue was a record $83 million and grew 34% year-over-year, driven by record products revenue of $59 million, which grew 45% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was a solid $11 million, and we generated a record $21 million in cash from operations. During the second quarter, we saw increased demand for our solutions across both defense and advanced manufacturing markets. Our pipeline of new opportunities in directed energy significantly expanded with the recent award of the Department of War's Joint Laser Weapon System contract. Our laser sensing and advanced manufacturing opportunities also continue to grow, providing us with a broad base of new and existing programs and customers that we expect will continue to provide long-term growth opportunities for nLIGHT. Directed energy is an increasingly important priority for the U.S. and our allies, driven by the need for highly scalable, low-cost per shot solutions to counter a rapidly evolving threat environment. Our focus remains on supporting customers across a broad range of power levels and mission profiles, and we are increasingly engaged not only as a laser supplier, but also as a system-level partner. nLIGHT’s high-energy lasers are differentiated across 3 key dimensions: power, brightness and atmospheric correction. We believe all are essential to the successful deployment of directed energy laser weapons. And it's across all 3 dimensions where we believe our HADES family of directed energy products outperforms competing solutions. HADES can scale from tens of kilowatts to 1 megawatt of power while maintaining exceptional beam quality. When combined with our proprietary atmospheric correction technology, HADES provides defense customers with an operational solution capable of neutralizing a wide range of threats. Designed to be low SWaP, HADES can be delivered in a variety of form factors, enabling rapid deployment across a broad range of military platforms and battlefield environments. HADES was instrumental in helping us win the recent Joint Laser Weapon System, or JLWS award, a new multiyear DoW agreement with a contract ceiling of over $600 million. Under JLWS, nLIGHT will develop, integrate and deliver multiple high-energy laser weapon systems that build on the successful delivery of our 300-kilowatt high-energy HELSI-1 laser and our 50-kilowatt high-energy DE M-SHORAD laser. nLIGHT will leverage its proprietary coherent beam combination and atmosphere correction technology and its vertically integrated manufacturing to deliver modular containerized systems that can be integrated across a variety of platforms and rapidly deployed in theater. With increasing U.S. defense prioritization of directed energy lasers and planned demonstrations of operational systems expected as early as 2028, JLWS represents a critical step forward building production-ready laser weapon systems at scale. We also continue to make progress with existing directed energy programs in the second quarter. Our work on the production of our 1-megawatt CBC high energy laser as part of HELSI-2 continues to go well, and we remain on track for this program. Importantly, this laser is based on the same architecture that we use across our HADES portfolio of CBC lasers, demonstrating the scalability of the platform to deliver solutions that address a wide range of mission scenarios. We are making steady progress on the U.S. Navy's HELCAP program for anti-ship cruise missile defense, where we are integrating our 300-kilowatt CBC laser that we delivered under the HELSI-1 program with a proprietary advanced beam control system that incorporates our adaptive optics for atmospheric correction. We believe this work will continue to accelerate the development and deployment of future multi-hundred kilowatt systems over the coming years. We also continue to see increased interest in our defense products outside of directed energy. In the second quarter, we delivered strong growth in our products for kinetic weapons, which remains an important growth driver within our defense markets. These products are delivered into long-standing programs of record and are in high demand due to global restocking efforts as well as new mission applications where the use case for weapons is expanding. Within the space domain, we see accelerating need for both our laser sensing and advanced manufacturing products. Our high-energy pulse lasers are being designed into several new programs that are in the early stages of adoption across the commercial and defense markets. And we have a growing pipeline of customers using our commercial fiber lasers with our proprietary dynamic beam shaping technology in the launch ammunition markets as well. In summary, I'm extremely encouraged by the growing pipeline of opportunities across our entire portfolio of defense and advanced manufacturing solutions and demand for our products remains strong. Our strategy remains consistent. Leverage our vertically integrated technology platform, execute with discipline on existing programs and invest to accelerate and support long-term growth and value creation. We believe this approach positions nLIGHT to succeed across the multiyear opportunities that remain ahead of us. Let me now turn the call over to Joe to discuss our second quarter financial results. Joseph Corso: Thank you, Scott. We had a strong second quarter with record product revenue and solid execution. Demand for our products across both our space and defense and our advanced manufacturing markets continue to accelerate, and our pipeline of new opportunities continues to build. Further, our focus on working capital management and targeted CapEx enabled us to generate record operating cash flow in the quarter while positioning ourselves for long-term growth. Turning to the results. Total revenue in the second quarter was $82.6 million, an increase of 34% compared to $61.7 million in the second quarter of 2025 and up 3% compared to the prior quarter. Aerospace and defense revenue was a record $57.3 million in the quarter, up 41% year-over-year. A&D growth was driven by record A&D product revenue, which grew 72% year-over-year and 3% sequentially. Development revenue of $23.2 million grew 11% year-over-year and 5% compared to the prior quarter. The year-over-year and sequential growth in our revenue from the aerospace and defense market was primarily driven by continued progress in our HELSI-2 program, growth in our munitions program and execution across multiple other directed energy and laser sensing programs. Second quarter revenue from our commercial markets, which include industrial and microfabrication, was $25.3 million, an increase of 20% year-over-year and 1% compared to the prior quarter. Revenue from our microfabrication markets was $13.3 million. Revenue of $12 million from our industrial markets benefited from increased demand for our additive manufacturing products and an increase in sales associated with last time buys of our cutting and welding products. As we previously announced, we are exiting our legacy cutting and welding markets, and we do not expect to generate material revenue from these markets in the second half of the year. Total gross margin in the second quarter was 31.1% compared to 29.9% in the second quarter of 2025 and 33.1% last quarter. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes stock-based compensation, total gross margin in the second quarter was 32.6%, up from 30.9% in the same period last year and 34.4% last quarter. Products gross margin in the second quarter was 41.2% compared to 38.5% in the second quarter of 2025 and 43.6% last quarter. The year-over-year increase in products gross margin was primarily driven by sales mix and the positive impact of higher production volumes on fixed manufacturing costs. Products gross margins were at the high end of our guidance range, but down sequentially on higher manufacturing spend, partially offset by increased volumes. Non-GAAP products gross margin in the quarter was 42.4% compared to 40% in the second quarter of 2025 and 44.6% last quarter. Development gross margin was 5.6% compared to 13.1% in the same quarter a year ago and 5.1% last quarter. The variability in development gross margin is primarily the result of contract mix and the timing of program deliverables in any given quarter. Non-GAAP development gross margin in the quarter was 7.5% compared to 13.1% in the same period a year ago and 7.2% last quarter. Moving down the income statement. GAAP operating expenses were $29.3 million in the second quarter compared to $22.7 million in the second quarter of 2025 and $27.2 million in the prior quarter. The year-over-year increase in GAAP operating expenses is primarily due to higher stock-based compensation. Non-GAAP operating expenses were $19.5 million in the quarter, up from $16.8 million in the second quarter of 2025 and $17.1 million last quarter. The increase in non-GAAP operating expenses was primarily due to higher employee compensation expenses and an increase in R&D material spend. We expect non-GAAP OpEx to remain in the $17 million to $19 million per quarter range in the second half of 2026. GAAP net loss in the second quarter of 2026 was $1.3 million or $0.02 per share compared to a net loss of $3.6 million or $0.07 per share in the same quarter a year ago and positive net income of $645,000 or $0.01 per diluted share last quarter. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the second quarter was $9.6 million or $0.15 per diluted share compared to $2.9 million or $0.06 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2025 and $11.8 million or $0.20 per diluted share last quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter was $10.7 million compared to $5.6 million in the same quarter last year and $13.8 million in the first quarter of 2026. Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the second quarter with total cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and investments of $330.8 million. During the second quarter, we repaid the $20 million that we had previously drawn down on our $40 million line of credit, and we generated a record $20.7 million in cash from operations during the quarter. Turning to guidance. Based on the information available today, we expect revenue for the third quarter of 2026 to be in the range of $63 million to $73 million. The midpoint of $68 million includes approximately $43 million of product revenue and $25 million of development revenue. Please note that our revenue guidance for the third quarter excludes approximately $17 million of product revenue that we would have expected to ship in the third quarter but is now expected to be delivered in future quarters. We are currently experiencing challenges in getting some parts and materials from certain Chinese suppliers. While these materials do not represent a large portion of the overall bill of material of our products, delays in sourcing these materials, which primarily affect our commercial products, will not allow us to fully satisfy our customer demand in the third quarter. Overall gross margin in the third quarter is expected to be in the range of 24% to 30%, with product gross margin in the range of 34% to 40% and development gross margin of approximately 8%. The expected sequential decline in products gross margin is largely driven by the lower expected product volumes. As we've mentioned previously, as a vertically integrated manufacturing business, gross margin is largely dependent on production volumes and absorption of fixed manufacturing costs. We expect adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2026 to be in the range of $1 million to $7 million. With that, I will turn the call over to the operator for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Jonathan Siegmann with Stifel. Jonathan Siegmann: Congratulations on strong results. Could you maybe talk a little bit about how the JLWS award rolls into '26 and '27? I realize you may not give exact numbers on that, but maybe you can square that with the headwind that you might see from HELSI-2. Joseph Corso: Jon, the JLWS award will start to contribute revenue in the current quarter. We will run into the fourth quarter and then really start to ramp up in 2027. But the second half of the year will be just really the initial stages of the program. Jonathan Siegmann: And its contribution in '27, how should we think about how much of that helps relative to the headwind you might see with HELSI-2? Joseph Corso: Actually, I'll characterize it as it will be a nice replacement and then some relative to the HELSI-2 program. So a couple of quarters ago, there was some concern that the HELSI-2 program was going to fall off, and we knew it would trail off. But with the award, the win with JLWS will more than make up for that as we get into 2027. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Louie DiPalma with William Blair. Louie Dipalma: From a technology standpoint, how is the prototype for the Joint Laser Weapon System that you're developing different from the HELSI-2 prototype and your HADES platform? Scott Keeney: Louie, this is Scott. Thanks for the question. The program that we just won, JLWS is a -- as Joe just mentioned, is a continuation extension transition, if you will, for the work we've done on HELSI to demonstrate the technology. JLWS is a program that's focused on transitioning that into products at, again, the high power levels. So it builds on what we've done with HELSI. It builds on the HADES product family and continues to both expand our product line and at various power levels. Louie Dipalma: Okay. And I guess from a high level, related to HELSI-2 and JLWS and HADES, what would you estimate is the projected time line on when some of the laser systems will be fielded at scale? Scott Keeney: Yes, that will depend on how the U.S. budgets, in particular, progress, and we're seeing continued expansion and interest in those programs. But we don't anticipate that there will be a program of record over the next year. We do anticipate that we will see increasing interest and increasing demand. And we will transition to initial prototypes for the higher power levels in the coming couple of years. And from there, it goes to a low rate production set of opportunities, and it will scale from there. Louie Dipalma: Great. And one final question. As you know, the missile industry is in the midst of a dynamic period with multiyear agreements established for many of the top 15 programs. Should this have a positive impact on your sensing business? And is there the potential for you to be incorporated as a second supplier on some of these missile programs that you aren't involved in today? Joseph Corso: Yes. Good question, Louis. The short answer is yes. I think the restocking that we are seeing of traditional kinetic munitions, particularly on the missile side, will be a benefit to nLIGHT. If you go back over the last 18 months, for example, we announced a $25 million award just roughly 18 months ago. We followed up at the end of last year with a $50 million award for -- both of those awards were for roughly the same period of performance. So we are seeing in certain programs, our -- just the number of units continue to grow and our content continue to grow. We expect that to continue here in the coming years. And then the second part of your question is it is part of our plan from a sensing perspective to expand the number of opportunities that we have with missiles in particular. Now as you know, that gestation period is and can be long, but it's certainly something that is in the plan for us. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Jim Ricchiuti with Needham & Company. James Ricchiuti: I was hoping to better understand the supply chain situation. I wonder if you could elaborate on the component or material that is creating that shortfall in the Q3 guide because otherwise, it would sound like your Q3 product guide would be significantly better and overall revenue much higher. I'm trying to get a better sense as to when this could be resolved, what some of the challenges are. Scott Keeney: Good, Jim. This is Scott. I appreciate the question, and you're exactly right. Q2 was a record quarter, and we've got very strong demand across the board. And we would have guided higher had it not been for the supply chain challenges that we're seeing. And those challenges come from what appears to be China increasing scrutiny on dual-use products for defense tech products. And the particular commodity that I would highlight would be optics, these are not specialized components. They're materials where China has built out an outsized portion of the overall supply chain over time. And we're seeing delays in the ability to get some of those components that's affecting Q3. In terms of the outlook, I'll let Joe chime in a little further to expand upon that. Joseph Corso: Jim, your observation was absolutely right. We have a very strong demand in the third quarter, and we wanted to try to quantify that and give you some direction to give you a sense that we would have expected that, but we do expect that demand is still there. The forecast is still strong. Backlog is strong. Our ability to execute on that backlog in the fourth quarter is still a little bit of a question mark for us at this point. James Ricchiuti: Well, again, if the supply is coming out of China and do you have -- it sounds like they control a fair amount of the supply chain for this material. So what's the risk that this just ends up going on for more than a few quarters, I guess, trying to get a sense as to how -- and I assume this is affecting more of your defense business. Is that right? Joseph Corso: Jim, good question. No, the actual impact of it is more on the commercial side of the business and the products that we build. As Scott said, this is largely related to the dual-use nature of our products. As you know, we've spent a lot of time over the last couple of years derisking and moving manufacturing out of China. Our revenue base has certainly moved out of China. A good bit of our supply chain has moved out of China. So from an overall percentage of the bill of materials, we're not talking about a lot of the BOM, but it doesn't take more than just a couple of components for us to complete the build. So we could see that this could resolve itself quite quickly or it will take months to quarters depending on what the particular mitigation strategy is, right? Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Greg Palm with Craig-Hallum. Greg Palm: Yes. I'm going to, I guess, follow up on that because my very next question was going to be what is your current mitigation strategy? I mean, can you find these components outside of China? Presumably, you're already trying, but just give us some sense on what the availability is at this point. Scott Keeney: Yes, Greg, it's Scott here. Again, we have been derisking China for some time now. We've shifted our focus to markets outside of China. We've moved our manufacturing out of China. But it does take time on the supply chain side to requalify, redesign some of these complex lasers. And so we're in the midst, and we've been working on this on -- working with our existing supply chain partners. We're evaluating and qualifying new partners. And where we can, we're evaluating redesign of our products to provide more flexibility for the future. So those are some of the themes that we're focused on here. And this is something we've talked about, but it's something that has even greater focus now. Greg Palm: Okay. And I just want to be clear, I think you said it mostly impacts commercial. Is there any chance that this could or would impact anything in defense and specifically, for instance, the ramp-up or potential contribution of JLWS? Scott Keeney: Yes. As Joe said, this is mostly commercial. It's part of our dual-use strategy. But there's some exposure here, even if it's indirect to our defense products. The majority of our defense supply chain is domestic. But we do use some of our own commercial items, which do have exposure to some of these Chinese components that go into our defense products. And in terms of the implications for JLWS, I think I would just put that in that context. This is a fairly small number of products, but it is something that we're working through. Joseph Corso: And Greg, just to be clear, the initial work that we are going to do on JLWS will largely be unaffected by the supply chain issue. So for us right now, that program is all systems go. Greg Palm: Yes. And just to be clear, you're referring to the $44 million, is that what you call the initial work? Joseph Corso: Well, that's the initial funded work. The initial plan is beyond the $44 million. And I'm also referring to significant work beyond the $44 million in JLWS that will be unaffected by these issues. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Keith Housum with Northcoast Research. Keith Housum: And sorry to belabor the point here, but I want to ensure this is more of a political football as opposed to a manufacturing delay, correct? Joseph Corso: It's not at all related to manufacturing products, no. Keith Housum: Okay. Got you. And how long has this been going on for? I mean, is there -- I know you don't have a crystal ball and you can't predict when it might be resolved, but just trying to understand how long it's been going on to give us an idea if there's any chance of this being quick come and go. Joseph Corso: This has been a very recent development just over the past handful of weeks as this started to crop up. Keith Housum: Okay. And I guess, finally, any chance that your customers actually will go looking elsewhere to competitors for this? Or your lasers are so unique and design is spec into their products that they'll be patient and wait? Scott Keeney: Yes. I think the short answer is we see very strong demand. This is a supply chain delay. We're working through that, and that demand remains strong, and we're eager to ship those products as soon as possible. Keith Housum: Okay. I guess just changing subjects in a little bit more happier tone. There's so much going on now with the space development in terms of rockets and perhaps data centers in the sky. As you think about your sensing lasers, are you having discussions that are opening up new use cases with some of these various conversations about how to utilize space more effectively here? Scott Keeney: Short answer is yes. I mentioned space briefly in my comments and in subsequent calls, look forward to providing more information about where we're engaged. It gets complex due to the nature of those programs. But Keith, yes, the short answer to your question is sensing and other applications are important in space also. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Kieran McCabe with Cantor Fitzgerald. Kieran McCabe: I'm on for Troy Jensen. I guess maybe my first question is -- and I apologize, I'm kind of maybe looking at too close here, splitting hairs, but the 3Q guidance is a little bit wider range than normal. Is that kind of driven by the supply chain issue or timing of projects or just kind of more conservatism in your forecast and maybe how that relates to 4Q and going into 2027? Joseph Corso: Yes. The slightly wider range this quarter is related exclusively to supply chain, Kieran. Kieran McCabe: Great. And my second question is on, you mentioned strong demand in additive manufacturing. I know in our survey work, we're seeing a lot of strong demand for metal printing and also in the A&D sector and also I believe one of the companies that reported this, just this week talked about strength in demand in rocketry and stuff. I know you kind of answered it partially in the prior question, but any kind of color you can provide maybe on what you're seeing in the additive manufacturing space and kind of the trends and demand that you're seeing there? Scott Keeney: Yes, Kieran, we're seeing strong demand across really all the segments of our business, including additive, and you highlighted 2 of the key drivers there. Certainly, rocket engines is one, but a broader range of aerospace and defense components, we're seeing significant demand increases there. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Jan Engelbrecht with Baird. Jan-Frans Engelbrecht: Congrats on another nice set of results. I think I'll stay with JLWS. And just wanted to see that contract structure, should we assume that sort of HELSI-2 rolls into that? Or are they 2 separate things if there's additional work that the government wants to do on HELSI-2? And then just a quick cleanup on that sort of announcement. I noticed that the ceiling value for nLIGHT was listed at $607 million. And then I think the Department of War put out a ceiling value for the second vendor and yourself of $847 million. Should we sort of read into that, that you're sort of getting -- basically about 75% of that contract if the ceiling values are reached? Or is that -- would you caution us against that? Joseph Corso: No. Second question first. Your math is right on that, Jan. So the $627 million is the ceiling for the contract that we were awarded. And then to your first part of your question, HELSI-2 and JLWS are 2 separate contracts. JLWS has a particular scope of work that was defined in our release and in the Department of War's release. And HELSI-2 remains on track for us to deliver the 1-megawatt laser late in 2026. Jan-Frans Engelbrecht: Perfect. And if I may, with a quick follow-up. There were some recent announcements on the Infantry Squad Vehicle Heavy program. I think they want to procure 3 prototypes initially, but there's planned for 600 vehicles over the lifetime. And I think the whole idea that the government wants to do there is to sort of have a hybrid onboard power, sort of a generator and then a battery. And I think that directly would benefit nLIGHT just as we think about sort of mobile platforms that can actually have enough power to house these laser weapon systems. Is that how you guys are seeing it? And are you seeing enough work being done and sort of maybe call it VC funding or just investments in general that are going to actually solving the power bottleneck? Because it does seem like beam quality and lethality is not really the issue here for laser weapon systems. It's power constraints. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. Scott Keeney: Yes, I think that, that program is one example of improvements in the broader set of technology that is important here. And you're exactly right that having power supplies continue to improve is important, but it's one of many programs that are going on that are addressing those issues, ground, naval, airborne, other platforms, important work going on there, and we're seeing progress there. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Greg Palm with Craig-Hallum. Greg Palm: Thanks for taking the follow-up. Just given this $17 million impact, I'm just curious how that is impacting your assumptions by segment. And so I guess my question is, can you give us a little bit better sense of how you're thinking about revenue? Was there no change to defense relative to what you were thinking a couple of weeks ago, and this is like 100% coming out of industrial and microfab? And of the 2, is there one where it's more impacted versus the other? Joseph Corso: Yes. So first, Greg, the demand -- when we talk about a strong demand environment, as you've seen in the first 2 quarters of the year, it really has been broad-based. And then when we look at the expected unfulfilled demand in the third quarter at the midpoint of our guide, certainly, much more of it is coming from the commercial end markets than the defense end markets. But as you know, there are some commercial items that we sell that are reported as A&D. So it's not 100% of it, but it's largely commercial oriented in terms of the shortfall. Greg Palm: I guess what I'm getting at, I mean, should we assume that commercial revenues are down significantly year-over-year because of this or not necessarily? Joseph Corso: No. I mean, Greg, we don't guide with that level of specificity. I think what we talked about in -- at the end of 2025 was that there was going to be a headwind from the cutting and welding business. We've done a little bit better than we thought there. The additive manufacturing business has had better demand and better performance than we had anticipated and as has the microfabrication market, right? We've talked about a kind of through-cycle range of $8 million to $12 million a quarter. We've been performing this year on the upper end of that range. And we would have expected that to continue in the second half of the year, if not for some of these supply chain challenges. So the demand is still there. Timing of execution, that's where we're a little bit less certain around Q4 at this point. Operator: We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to John Marchetti for closing remarks. John Marchetti: Thank you, everyone, for joining us this afternoon and for your continued interest in nLIGHT. We will be participating in several investor conferences over the next several weeks, and we look forward to speaking with you during those events and throughout the quarter. Have a great day. Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect. Before you buy stock in nLIGHT, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and nLIGHT wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $400,209!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,375,393!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by 4x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2026. This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. nLIGHT (LASR) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

In August 2026, nLIGHT, Inc. reported second-quarter results showing revenue of US$82.59 million and a reduced net loss of US$1.34 million, while guiding third-quarter 2026 revenue to a range of US$63 million to US$73 million amid supply chain constraints. The quarter also marked record aerospace and defense revenue, underpinned by a Joint Laser Weapon System contract with a ceiling above US$600 million that is expected to begin contributing from the third quarter of 2026. With this large Joint Laser Weapon System award now starting to factor into expectations, we will assess how it reshapes nLIGHT's investment narrative. This technology could replace computers: discover 26 stocks that are working to make quantum computing a reality. To own nLIGHT, you need to believe its growing position in high energy laser systems for defense can offset weakness in commercial lasers and near term losses. The latest results and JLWS award reinforce the core aerospace and defense growth story, but also highlight that supply chain constraints remain the key short term risk, limiting Q3 shipments and adding uncertainty around how quickly the new contract flows into revenue and margins. The most relevant recent announcement is the JLWS contract, with an initial US$44 million award and a ceiling up to US$627 million. Management now expects this program to start contributing from Q3 2026, which directly ties into the main catalyst for the stock: defense programs becoming a larger share of revenue. At the same time, this deepens reliance on U.S. defense spending, amplifying the risk if funding priorities or program timelines change. Yet investors should also weigh how concentrated U.S. defense program exposure, including JLWS, could amplify any future funding or procurement shift... Read the full narrative on nLIGHT (it's free!) nLIGHT's narrative projects $454.9 million revenue and $8.2 million earnings by 2029. Uncover how nLIGHT's forecasts yield a $90.71 fair value, a 62% upside to its current price. Before this update, the most cautious analysts were assuming revenue of about US$463 million and earnings of roughly US$36 million by 2029, and they worried that dependence on a small set of directed energy contracts could cap upside if any program slipped. Compared with the more optimistic consensus, that is a much more restrained story, and this new JLWS ramp and supply chain hit may push both views to evolve in different directions. Explore 6 other fair value estimates on nLIGHT - why the stock might be worth as much as 78% more than the current price! Disagree with existing narratives? Extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd, so go with your instincts. A great starting point for your nLIGHT research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 3 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision. Our free nLIGHT research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate nLIGHT's overall financial health at a glance. Opportunities like this don't last. These are today's most promising picks. Check them out now: Uncover the next big thing with 20 elite penny stocks that balance risk and reward. We've uncovered the 8 dividend fortresses yielding 5%+ that don't just survive market storms, but thrive in them. The future of work is here. Discover the 36 top robotics and automation stocks leading the charge in AI-driven automation and industrial transformation. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include LASR. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Record Q2 revenue was driven by 45% year-over-year growth in product sales, specifically within the aerospace and defense (A&D) and advanced manufacturing sectors. The award of the Joint Laser Weapon System (JLWS) contract, with a $600 million ceiling, validates nLIGHT's transition from a laser component supplier to a system-level defense partner. Management attributes directed energy success to the HADES platform's ability to scale from tens of kilowatts to 1 megawatt while maintaining beam quality and atmospheric correction. Growth in kinetic weapons products is being fueled by global munitions restocking efforts and the expansion of mission use cases for traditional weapons. The company is successfully executing its strategic exit from legacy cutting and welding markets to focus on higher-margin additive manufacturing and microfabrication. Vertical integration remains a core strategic pillar, allowing the company to leverage proprietary coherent beam combination technology across both commercial and military applications. Q3 2026 guidance includes a $17 million revenue deferral due to sudden supply chain disruptions involving Chinese optical components. Management expects the JLWS program to begin contributing revenue in the third quarter of 2026, with a significant ramp-up anticipated in 2027. and serve as a primary growth driver to replace the tapering HELSI-2 program in 2027. The company expects to transition high-power laser prototypes to low-rate production over the next few years, with operational demonstrations anticipated by 2028. Non-GAAP operating expenses are projected to stabilize between $17 million and $19 million per quarter for the remainder of 2026. Future gross margin expansion remains heavily dependent on production volumes and the successful mitigation of dual-use component sourcing challenges. China has recently increased scrutiny on dual-use exports, causing delays in sourcing standard optical materials essential for commercial laser production. The company is actively redesigning products and qualifying domestic suppliers to further decouple its supply chain from Chinese dependencies. Legacy industrial revenue from cutting and welding is expected to become immaterial in the second half of 2026 as the strategic exit concludes. A record $21 million in operating cash flow was achieved through disciplined working capital management and targeted CapEx, while the company also repaid a $20 million credit line. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management confirmed that JLWS will more than offset the expected revenue decline from the HELSI-2 program as it ramps up in 2027. The contract represents a transition of demonstrated technology into production-ready weapon systems. The disruption involves 'political' export scrutiny on dual-use optics rather than manufacturing failures. While the affected components are a small portion of the total bill of materials, they are critical for final assembly, primarily impacting commercial products. nLIGHT is seeing accelerating demand for high-energy pulse lasers in rocket engine production and satellite sensing applications. Management indicated they are engaged in several early-stage space programs but noted the complexity of disclosing specific program details. Based on the Department of War's total ceiling of $847 million for two vendors, nLIGHT's $627 million ceiling implies they secured approximately 75% of the program's potential value.

Interested in nLight? Here are five stocks we like better. nLight reported record second-quarter results: Revenue rose 34% year over year to $82.6 million, product revenue increased 45% to $59 million, and adjusted EBITDA nearly doubled to $10.7 million. Aerospace and defense revenue reached a record $57.3 million, up 41%. Defense growth is supported by major laser programs: The multiyear JLWS award has a contract ceiling exceeding $600 million, with revenue expected to begin in the third quarter and ramp in 2027. The company’s 1-megawatt HELSI-2 laser remains on track for delivery late in 2026. China-related supply constraints reduced the outlook: Delays affecting optics and other materials are expected to defer roughly $17 million of otherwise anticipated third-quarter product shipments. nLight forecast third-quarter revenue of $63 million to $73 million, with gross margin projected at 24% to 30%. 3 Photonics Companies Making Quantum Tech Possible nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) reported record second-quarter revenue and product sales as demand increased across its defense, space and advanced-manufacturing markets, while management said supply-chain constraints involving materials sourced from China are expected to reduce third-quarter shipments. Second-quarter revenue rose 34% year over year to $82.6 million, including record product revenue of $59 million, up 45%. Chairman and CEO Scott Keeney said revenue, gross margin and adjusted EBITDA were at or above the company’s expectations. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $10.7 million, compared with $5.6 million a year earlier, while operating cash flow reached a record $20.7 million. → Meta’s Earnings Drop Shows Wall Street Wants More Than Ad Growth Before the Moon Base Gets Built, These 4 Companies Win “Demand for our products remains strong,” Keeney said, citing a growing pipeline across the company’s defense and advanced-manufacturing portfolio. Aerospace and defense revenue reached a record $57.3 million in the quarter, up 41% from the prior-year period. Aerospace and defense product revenue increased 72% year over year, while development revenue rose 11% to $23.2 million. → Visa’s BioCatch Deal Could Make Fraud Prevention a Bigger Business Analysts Are Bullish on These 3 Laser Tech Companies Chief Financial Officer Joe Corso said the growth reflected continued work on the HELSI-2 program, expansion in munitions programs, and execution on directed-energy and laser-sensing programs. The company also said its products for kinetic weapons recorded strong growth, supported by global restocking activity and expanding mission applications. The company highlighted its recent Joint Laser Weapon System, or JLWS, award from the Department of War. The multiyear agreement has a contract ceiling of more than $600 million. Under the program, nLight is expected to develop, integrate and deliver high-energy laser weapon systems built on its HADES directed-energy technology platform. → Ulta's Growth Is Real, But So Are the Risks Keeney said the JLWS program builds on the company’s delivery of a 300-kilowatt laser under HELSI-1 and a 50-kilowatt laser for the DE M-SHORAD program. nLight is also continuing work on a 1-megawatt coherent beam-combined laser under HELSI-2, which Corso said remains on track for delivery late in 2026. Corso said JLWS revenue will begin contributing in the third quarter, continue through the fourth quarter and ramp more substantially in 2027. He characterized the expected JLWS contribution as “a nice replacement and then some” relative to the anticipated wind-down of HELSI-2 work. Management said JLWS and HELSI-2 are separate contracts. The company also said initial JLWS work, including work beyond the initially funded $44 million, is expected to be largely unaffected by current supply-chain issues. Commercial-market revenue, including industrial and microfabrication sales, increased 20% year over year to $25.3 million. Microfabrication revenue was $13.3 million, while industrial revenue was $12 million. Industrial results benefited from higher demand for additive-manufacturing products and sales related to last-time purchases of cutting and welding products. nLight is exiting its legacy cutting and welding markets and does not expect material revenue from those markets in the second half of 2026. Management said additive manufacturing demand has been strong, including demand associated with rocket engines and a broader range of aerospace and defense components. Keeney also said the company sees accelerating needs for laser sensing and advanced-manufacturing products in the space sector, although he did not provide further details on specific programs. Total gross margin was 31.1%, compared with 29.9% a year earlier, though down from 33.1% in the first quarter. Product gross margin increased year over year to 41.2%, aided by sales mix and higher production volumes that improved absorption of fixed manufacturing costs. Development gross margin was 5.6%, compared with 13.1% a year earlier, reflecting contract mix and the timing of program deliverables. On a GAAP basis, nLight posted a net loss of $1.3 million, or $0.02 per share, improving from a $3.6 million loss a year earlier. Non-GAAP net income was $9.6 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, versus $2.9 million, or $0.06 per share, in the prior-year quarter. The company ended the quarter with $330.8 million in cash equivalents, restricted cash and investments. It also repaid the $20 million previously drawn on its credit line. For the third quarter, nLight forecast revenue of $63 million to $73 million, with a midpoint of $68 million. The midpoint includes about $43 million of product revenue and $25 million of development revenue. Corso said the outlook excludes roughly $17 million in product revenue that the company otherwise expected to ship during the quarter. Those deliveries are now expected in future periods because nLight is experiencing delays obtaining certain parts and materials from Chinese suppliers. Keeney said the affected materials primarily include optics and are not specialized components, but China has developed an outsized role in that supply chain. The issue is mainly affecting commercial products, although management acknowledged some indirect exposure in defense products because certain commercial items are incorporated into defense offerings. The company said it has been reducing its China exposure by moving manufacturing out of the country, working with existing suppliers, qualifying new suppliers and considering product redesigns that could provide greater sourcing flexibility. Corso said the issue emerged only in recent weeks and could resolve quickly or persist for months to quarters depending on mitigation efforts. nLight expects third-quarter gross margin of 24% to 30% and adjusted EBITDA of $1 million to $7 million. Management said the broader-than-usual revenue guidance range is exclusively related to the supply-chain uncertainty. 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. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "nLight Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

nLIGHT, Inc. LASR used its second-quarter 2026 earnings call to emphasize expanding defense opportunities while warning that Chinese supply-chain delays will weigh on third-quarter shipments. Management said that demand remains strong, but execution is constrained by a small number of components. Non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.15 topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.14. Revenues of $82.6 million surpassed the consensus estimate of $78.5 million and rose 34% year over year. nLight price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | nLight Quote CEO Scott Keeney said that directed energy, laser sensing and advanced manufacturing opportunities continued to expand, supported by new programs and existing production work. Aerospace and defense revenues rose 41% year over year to a record $57.3 million. CFO Joseph Corso said that growth reflected HELSI-2 progress, munitions demand and execution across directed-energy and laser-sensing programs. Keeney also highlighted stronger kinetic-weapons demand tied to restocking and expanding mission applications. He added that space-related demand is increasing for sensing lasers and advanced-manufacturing products. Keeney called the Joint Laser Weapon System award an extension of nLIGHT's work on HELSI and its HADES product family, moving the technology toward deployable high-power systems. CFO Joseph Corso told a Stifel analyst that JLWS will begin contributing revenues in the third quarter, continue into the fourth quarter and ramp more meaningfully in 2027. He added that the program should more than offset the expected decline in HELSI-2 revenues next year. A William Blair analyst asked about fielding timelines. Keeney said that nLIGHT does not expect a program of record within the next year, but expects increasing demand and prototype activity over the next couple of years before low-rate production begins. Corso guided third-quarter revenues to $63-$73 million, including about $43 million in product revenues and $25 million in development revenues. The outlook excludes roughly $17 million in product shipments now expected in future quarters. The overall gross margin is expected to be 24-30%, with the product gross margin at 34-40%. Adjusted EBITDA is projected between $1 million and $7 million. A Needham analyst pressed management on the shortfall. CEO Scott Keeney said that increased Chinese scrutiny of dual-use products is delaying optics, primarily affecting commercial products rather than reflecting weaker customer demand. Keeney said that nLIGHT has already shifted manufacturing and much of its revenue base away from China, but some components still require alternative sourcing. In response to a Craig-Hallum analyst, Keeney stated that the company is working with current suppliers, qualifying new partners and evaluating product redesigns to create more sourcing flexibility. Corso said that the disruption could clear quickly or persist for months to quarters, leaving fourth-quarter shipment timing uncertain. He added that initial JLWS work should be largely unaffected. Commercial revenues totaled $25.3 million, up 20% year over year. CFO Joseph Corso said that industrial sales benefited from additive-manufacturing demand and final purchases of legacy cutting and welding products, which nLIGHT is exiting. Keeney told a Cantor Fitzgerald analyst that additive-manufacturing strength spans aerospace and defense applications, including rocket engines and other components. Corso informed that additive manufacturing and microfabrication were performing better than previously anticipated before the supply constraint. Management continued to characterize demand as broad-based. Corso said that record operating cash flow of $20.7 million reflected working-capital discipline and targeted capital spending. The company ended the second quarter with $330.8 million in cash, restricted cash and investments after repaying its $20-million credit-line balance. Keeney kept the strategy centered on executing existing defense programs, supporting directed-energy opportunities and investing for long-term growth while management works through sourcing constraints. LASR currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), alongside a Growth Score of A, Value Score of F, Momentum Score of D and VGM Score of D. The Growth Score is the strongest component, while the Value and Momentum grades are weaker. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Zacks' framework emphasizes that Style Scores complement the Zacks Rank, with A and B grades considered more favorable and the strongest combinations generally involving Zacks Rank #1 or #2 (Buy) stocks. LASR's current mix is not among the highest-ranked configurations. The Zacks Rank can change as analysts revise earnings estimates following the just-reported results. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report nLight (LASR) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

nLight LASR reported better-than-expected second-quarter 2026 results, wherein both top and bottom lines surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. nLIGHT reported second-quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings of 15 cents per share, up 150% from 6 cents a year ago. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 14 cents by 7.1%. Revenues of $82.6 million increased 33.8% year over year and beat the consensus estimate of $79 million by 5.2%. Results benefited from strong aerospace and defense (A&D) demand, with A&D revenues climbing 41% to a record $57.3 million. Product revenues increased 45.4% year over year to a record $59.4 million. Development revenues rose 11.1% to $23.2 million, supported by continued execution across multiple defense programs. nLight price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | nLight Quote Within A&D, record product revenues of $34.1 million surged 72% year over year. Management cited progress on the HELSI-2 directed-energy program, higher munitions sales and execution across other directed-energy and laser-sensing programs. Commercial revenues, comprising industrial and microfabrication markets, totaled $25.3 million, up 20% from the year-ago quarter. Microfabrication revenues rose 17% to $13.3 million as order patterns remained healthy. Industrial revenues increased 24% year over year to $12 million. Results benefited from stronger additive-manufacturing demand and higher sales related to last-time purchases of cutting and welding products. The company is exiting its legacy cutting and welding markets and does not expect material revenues from them in the second half of 2026. GAAP gross margin expanded to 31.1% from 29.9% a year earlier. Products gross margin improved to 41.2% from 38.5%, aided by favorable sales mix and better absorption of fixed manufacturing costs on higher production volumes. Development gross margin contracted to 5.6% from 13.1%, reflecting contract mix and the timing of program deliverables. Non-GAAP total gross margin was 32.6%, while non-GAAP products gross margin reached 42.4%. Non-GAAP operating expenses increased to $19.5 million from $16.8 million on higher employee compensation and research and development material spending. Adjusted EBITDA nearly doubled to $10.7 million from $5.6 million. nLIGHT generated record operating cash flow of $20.7 million in the second quarter. Capital expenditures totaled $4.9 million. The company ended the second quarter of 2026 with $330.8 million in cash, restricted cash and investments. During the second quarter, LASR repaid the $20 million previously drawn on its credit facility, leaving no outstanding balance on the line of credit. For the third quarter of 2026, nLIGHT expects revenues between $63 million and $73 million. The outlook includes about $43 million of product revenues and $25 million of development revenues at the midpoint assumptions. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $66.01 million, indicating a year-over-year decline of 1.1%. The guidance excludes roughly $17 million of product revenues that the company otherwise expected to ship during the quarter. Management attributed the delay mainly to difficulties obtaining certain materials, particularly optics, from Chinese suppliers. The disruption is primarily affecting commercial products, although some defense products have indirect exposure. LASR expects third-quarter gross margin between 24% and 30%, with product gross margin of 34-40% and development gross margin of approximately 8%. Adjusted EBITDA is projected between $1 million and $7 million. Meanwhile, the recently awarded Joint Laser Weapon System program is expected to begin contributing revenues in the third quarter and ramp more meaningfully in 2027. Management expects the program to more than offset the eventual decline in HELSI-2 revenues as nLIGHT advances its directed-energy portfolio. Currently, LASR carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector are Lumentum LITE, Applied Materials AMAT and Analog Devices ADI, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Shares of Lumentum have surged 127.4% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LITE’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $8.19 per share, up by 5 cents over the past 30 days, indicating an increase of 297.6% year over year. Shares of Applied Materials have jumped 105.2% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMAT’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $12.17 per share, up by 3 cents over the past seven days, indicating a rise of 29.2% year over year. Analog Devices shares have surged 39.1% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ADI’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $12.42 per share, up by 10 cents over the past 30 days, indicating an increase of 59.4% year over year. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report nLight (LASR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lumentum Holdings Inc. (LITE) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

nLight (LASR) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.15 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.14 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.06 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +7.14%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this laser maker would post earnings of $0.08 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.2, delivering a surprise of +150%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. nLight, which belongs to the Zacks Electronics - Semiconductors industry, posted revenues of $82.59 million for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.19%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $61.74 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. nLight shares have added about 100.6% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 12.8%. While nLight has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for nLight was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.08 on $66.01 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $0.52 on $301.68 million in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Electronics - Semiconductors is currently in the top 19% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. One other stock from the same industry, Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (AOSL), is yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 12. This chipmaker is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.23 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -1250%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. Alpha and Omega Semiconductor's revenues are expected to be $168 million, down 4.8% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report nLight (LASR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Limited (AOSL) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Record revenues of $82.6 million increased 34% year-over-year Record quarterly Products revenue of $59.4 million increased 45% year-over-year CAMAS, Wash., August 06, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--nLIGHT, Inc. (Nasdaq: LASR), a leading provider of high-power lasers for mission critical directed energy, optical sensing, and advanced manufacturing applications, today reported financial results for the second quarter of 2026. "Our second quarter results represent another strong quarter of execution for nLIGHT with total revenue, gross margin and Adjusted EBITDA at or above our expectations, driven by continued strength in our key defense and advanced manufacturing markets," commented Scott Keeney, nLIGHT’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our pipeline of new opportunities in directed energy continues to expand, with the Department of War’s Joint Laser Weapon Systems contract as the latest example. Our laser sensing and advanced manufacturing opportunities also continue to grow, providing us with a broad base of new and existing programs that we expect will continue to provide attractive long-term growth opportunities for nLIGHT." Second Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights Record revenues of $82.6 million for the second quarter of 2026 were up 33.8% compared to $61.7 million for the second quarter of 2025. Gross margin was 31.1% for the second quarter of 2026 compared to 29.9% for the second quarter of 2025. GAAP net loss for the second quarter of 2026 was $1.3 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, compared to net loss of $3.6 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2025. Non-GAAP net income for the second quarter of 2026 was $9.6 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net loss of $2.9 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2025. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP metrics presented here to the most directly comparable GAAP metric have been provided in the tables included at the end of this release. Outlook For the third quarter of 2026, nLIGHT expects revenues to be in the range of $63 million to $73 million. The midpoint of $70 million includes Products revenue of approximately $43 million and Advanced Development revenue of approximately $25 million. Due to supply chain challenges, nLIGHT’s third quarter revenue guidance excludes approximately $17 million of product revenue that nLIGHT would have expected to ship in the third quarter but is now expected to be delivered in future quarters. nLIGHT expects overall gross margin to be in the range of 24% to 30%, with Products gross margin in the range of 34% to 40% and Advanced Development gross margin of approximately 8%. nLIGHT expects Adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $1 million to $7 million. We have not reconciled our outlook for Adjusted EBITDA because unrealized and realized foreign exchange gains and losses cannot be reasonably calculated or predicted nor can the probable significance be determined at this time. Accordingly, a reconciliation is not available without unreasonable effort. Investor Webcast at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Thursday, August 6, 2026 A webcast to discuss the second quarter results will be held on Thursday, August 6, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time). The audio webcast will be available on the investor relations section of the company's web site at http://investors.nlight.net. A replay of the webcast will be available shortly after the conclusion of the call. The webcast can also be accessed directly at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/189677464. Use of Non-GAAP Financial Results In addition to U.S. GAAP results, this press release contains non-GAAP financial results, including non-GAAP gross margin, Adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP net income (loss) per share, basic and diluted. We use Adjusted EBITDA to help us evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and make strategic decisions. In addition to our results determined in accordance with GAAP, we believe Adjusted EBITDA is a meaningful measure of performance as it is commonly utilized by us and the investment community to analyze operating performance in our industry. Similarly, we believe that providing non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP net income (loss) per share, basic and diluted, is useful to our investors as they present an informative supplemental view of our results from period to period by removing the effect of stock-based compensation expense and other non-recurring items. However, the non-GAAP metrics presented herein are specific to us and may not be comparable to similar metrics disclosed by other companies because of differing methods used by other companies in calculating them. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) adjusted for income tax expense (benefit), other non-operating income or expense, interest income or expense, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, acquisition and integration-related costs, and other non-recurring items as determined by management, as applicable. We define non-GAAP gross margin as GAAP gross margin adjusted for stock-based compensation and other non-recurring items as determined by management, as applicable. We define non-GAAP net income (loss) as GAAP net income (loss) adjusted for stock-based compensation, amortization of purchased intangibles, acquisition and integration-related costs, and other non-recurring items as determined by management, as applicable. We define non-GAAP net income (loss) per share, basic and diluted, as non-GAAP net income (loss) divided by the weighted-average number of shares outstanding during the respective period plus the dilutive effect of any common stock equivalents during the period in the case of non-GAAP net income (loss) per share, diluted. Tables presenting the reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted EBITDA, as well as the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP gross margin, GAAP to non-GAAP net income (loss) and GAAP to non-GAAP net income (loss) per share, basic and diluted, are included at the end of this press release. Safe Harbor Statement Certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "outlook," "guidance," "expects," "intends," "projects," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "targets," "anticipates," and similar expressions may identify these forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expected revenues, gross margin, and Adjusted EBITDA, our business strategy and opportunities to grow our business, ongoing supply chain challenges, as well as any other statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions, which may not prove to be accurate. These statements are not guarantees and are subject to risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from these forward-looking statements, including but not limited to our ability to compete successfully in the markets for our products; changes in the markets we serve or in the global economy; our ability to increase our volumes and decrease our costs to offset potential declines in the average selling prices of our products; rapid technological changes in the markets that we participate in; our ability to develop and maintain products that can achieve market acceptance; our ability to generate sufficient revenues to achieve or maintain profitability in the future; our high levels of fixed costs and inventory and their effect on our gross profits and results of operations if demand for our products declines or we maintain excess inventory levels; our ability to manage growth and spending during economic downturns; our manufacturing capacity and operations and their suitability for future levels of demand; our reliance on third parties to manufacture certain of our products and product components; our reliance on a small number of customers for a significant portion of our revenues; our ability to manage risks associated with international customers and operations; the effect of government export and import controls on our ability to compete in international markets; our ability to protect our proprietary technology and intellectual property rights; fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations and other operating measures; and the effect on our business of claims, lawsuits, government investigations, other legal or regulatory proceedings, or commercial or contractual disputes that we are or may become involved in. Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in nLIGHT's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including other risks, relevant factors and uncertainties identified in the "Risk Factors" section of nLIGHT's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K or subsequent filings with the SEC. nLIGHT undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect future events or developments, except as required by law. The nLIGHT logo and "nLIGHT" are registered trademarks or trademarks of nLIGHT, Inc. in various jurisdictions. About nLIGHT nLIGHT, Inc. is a leading provider of high-power lasers for mission critical directed energy, optical sensing, and advanced manufacturing applications. Headquartered in Camas, Washington, nLIGHT employs more than 800 people with operations in the United States, Europe and Asia. The company’s vertically integrated approach enables performance leadership from laser chip through system-level solutions. For more information, please visit www.nlight.net. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260806265893/en/ Contacts For more information, contact: John MarchettiVice President, Corporate Development & Investor RelationsnLIGHT, Inc.(360) [email protected]