Is nLIGHT, Inc. (LASR) A Good Stock To Buy Now?

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nLIGHT, Inc. (LASR) is positioned arsenic a high-power laser level institution with expanding strategical vulnerability to aerospace & defense, directed vigor systems, and precocious optical sensing, alongside its bequest concern and microfabrication applications. The institution operates done 2 halfway segments: Laser Products, which accounted for 68.6% of 2025 gross and delivered 39.2% gross margins, and Advanced Development, which represented 31.4% of gross but carried little 12.4% margins owed to its R&D and prototype-heavy nature.

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In 2025, nLIGHT demonstrated a wide operational inflection, with gross rising 31.6% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth to $261.3 million, gross margins expanding sharply to 29.8%, and Adjusted EBITDA turning affirmative astatine $23.5 million, reflecting meaningful operating leverage arsenic defense-driven request scaled. Aerospace & Defense present dominates the concern astatine 67% of revenue, increasing 60% twelvemonth implicit year, highlighting beardown traction successful directed-energy and laser sensing programs tied to U.S. authorities and premier contractors specified arsenic Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Technologies.

The concern thesis is anchored successful the imaginable conversion of Advanced Development programs into high-margin Laser Products revenue, wherever embedded plan wins and agelong qualification cycles tin make durable switching costs and programme visibility. With $161.6 cardinal successful backlog and $184.4 cardinal successful unfunded authorities declaration value, nLIGHT has important near-term and medium-term gross visibility, portion its vertically integrated semiconductor and fibre laser stack strengthens its technological moat successful mission-critical applications.

The February 2026 equity rise of astir $201 cardinal further enhances equilibrium expanse flexibility to standard defence accumulation capacity. While lawsuit attraction and authorities dependency stay risks, the accelerating displacement toward productized defence laser deployments and expanding directed-energy adoption enactment a bullish re-rating scenario, wherever sustained borderline enlargement and backlog conversion could thrust important upside successful LASR.