nLIGHT, Inc.

What they do

nLIGHT designs, manufactures, and sells high-power semiconductor lasers and fiber lasers that customers integrate into laser systems and manufacturing tools. It also builds high-energy pulsed fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers, and beam combination and control systems for directed-energy and laser-sensing defense applications. The company reports two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development, and sells into Aerospace and Defense, Industrial, and Microfabrication end markets.

Revenue drivers

• Laser Products — Semiconductor and fiber lasers, plus fiber amplifiers and beam control systems, sold mostly to OEMs for defense, industrial and microfabrication use; Products revenue was a record $59.4M in Q2 2026, about 72% of total revenue.
• Advanced Development — Research, design and prototyping programs for next-generation directed-energy and laser-sensing technology; revenue was $23.2M in Q2 2026, about 28% of total revenue.
• Directed energy and laser sensing — Defense-facing products including high-energy CW and pulsed fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers and beam combination systems; management cited the Department of War's Joint Laser Weapon Systems contract as a new directed-energy opportunity.
• Advanced manufacturing / industrial — Programmable high-power fiber lasers used for material processing, where programmable beam size and shape can replace multiple less flexible lasers.

Recent performance

Second quarter 2026 revenue was a record $82.6M, up 33.8% from $61.7M in the year-ago quarter, with Products revenue of $59.4M up 45% year-over-year. Gross margin was 31.1% versus 29.9%, and GAAP net loss narrowed to $1.3M, or $0.02 per diluted share, from a $3.6M net loss, or $0.07 per share. Adjusted EBITDA was $10.7M compared with $5.5M a year earlier, and non-GAAP net income was $9.6M, or $0.17 per diluted share. For the first half of 2026, revenue was $162.8M versus $113.4M, and net loss was $0.7M versus $11.7M. Full-year 2025 revenue was $261.3M with a net loss of $23.5M and operating cash flow of $21.3M.

Strategy

Management is emphasizing growth in defense directed energy, laser sensing, and advanced manufacturing, and says its pipeline of new opportunities in directed energy continues to expand. The company invests in research and prototyping through its Advanced Development segment to extend high-power laser technology leadership, and it maintains vertical integration across semiconductor lasers, fiber lasers and amplifiers. It is funding operations from a large cash position: cash and equivalents were $295.8M at June 30, 2026, up from $98.7M at December 31, 2025, with the line of credit paid down to zero from $20.0M. Share count rose to 57.7M shares outstanding at June 30, 2026 from 51.2M at year-end 2025.

Risks

• Intense competition — The filing states some competitors are larger with greater manufacturing, financial and R&D resources, and some may receive government subsidies or benefit from consolidation and vertical integration.
• Supply chain constraints — Q3 2026 revenue guidance excludes roughly $17M of product revenue that nLIGHT expected to ship in the quarter but now expects to deliver in future quarters due to supply chain challenges.
• Customer concentration in defense — A meaningful share of revenue comes from defense-directed-energy and sensing programs, where orders and timing depend on government contracts and program funding.
• Continued losses — nLIGHT has reported annual net losses each year from 2021 through 2025, including a $23.5M loss in 2025, and reported a $4.3M loss from operations in the first half of 2026.

Outlook

For the third quarter of 2026, nLIGHT guides revenue to $63M-$73M, with a midpoint of $70M comprising about $43M Products and $25M Advanced Development. It expects gross margin of 24%-30%, with Products gross margin of 34%-40% and Advanced Development gross margin of about 8%. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be $1M-$7M. Management says the quarter's revenue guidance excludes roughly $17M of product revenue delayed by supply chain challenges into future quarters.