Founded in 2000, nLIGHT (ticker LASR) is an American technology company that designs and manufactures semiconductor and fiber laser components. The company has two segments: Laser Products and Advanced Development. The company’s market capitalization at the time of this thread’s creation is $1.42 billion USD.
The Laser Products segment manufactures high-power lasers at various power levels, which can be used, for example, in the defense industry. The company is developing what will be the world’s most powerful laser weapon (1MW) upon completion; they already have at least a 300KW laser. The biggest advantage of laser weapons is their low operating cost compared to traditional anti-aircraft missiles, which can cost tens, if not hundreds of thousands of euros per missile, whereas with a laser weapon, we are talking about tens, at most hundreds of euros per use. The increased use of drones is one growth driver.
The Advanced Development segment manufactures laser systems for use in other industries.
Q2 was the company’s first EPS-positive quarter (still negative by GAAP figures), and they raised their guidance for revenue growth in their A&D (aerospace and defense) segment.
nLight has a strong connection to Finland, as the company’s optical fibers are manufactured in Lohja in the former premises of Liekki Oy. The name of the Finnish company acquired by nLight about twenty years ago adorns all of nLight’s optical fibers, which still bear Liekki’s trademark.
The defense industry is probably still a relatively small market segment for nLight, at least for now?
Aerospace and defence (A&D) has been the company’s largest segment by revenue for a couple of years already. Below is a chart from the Q2 presentation, where A&D is in dark blue. In the last quarter, it accounted for 2/3 of the revenue and was clearly the fastest growing (+49% y/y and +24% q/q).
I also got excited when I saw the news about Israel’s Laser Dome and started looking at what the market had to offer.
In five months, this is up 300%. I guess I’m too late
Let’s look elsewhere in the supply chain.
Rheinmetall and MBDA are starting a collaboration to equip the German Navy with laser-based systems. Relevant for nLight, as MBDA uses components manufactured by nLight.
nLIGHT provided an update to its revenue expectations for the fourth quarter of 2025. The high end of the revenue guidance became the low end (72 → 78), and the high end was raised by $2 million (78 → 80). The primary driver of growth is the Aerospace & Defense segment.
The Company expects to report fourth quarter 2025 revenue in the range of $78 million to $80 million, above the high-end of the Company’s previously announced fourth quarter guidance range of $72 million to $78 million. The Company expects to report Laser Products revenue of $54 million to $55 million and Advanced Development revenue of approximately $24 million to $25 million. The anticipated upside in revenue is primarily due to the continued strength in the Company’s revenue from the Aerospace & Defense market.
