Coherent (COHR +18.32%) stock got off to a fine start in November. The early trading days of the month saw the optical networking specialist post impressive quarterly results, which were rewarded by a bull run on its shares and a flurry of analyst price target raises. According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, Coherent's stock was up by nearly 21% week-to-date as of Thursday night.
Big leaps in the fundamentals
Coherent published its first quarter of fiscal 2026 results on Wednesday, revealing that its top line had grown 17% year over year to $1.58 billion for the period. Under generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP), the company's net profit zoomed to $226 million from the year-ago result of $26 million. On a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis, its profitability was $1.16 per share.
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The company essentially matched the average analyst estimate for revenue, but beat on the bottom line -- collectively, the pundits tracking its stock were modeling only $1.04 per share for adjusted net income.
Adding to that beat, Coherent also exceeded the analyst consensus for sales and net profit in its current (second) quarter. It believes the former will come in at $1.56 billion to $1.70 billion, filtering down into earnings per share (EPS) of $1.10 to $1.30.
NYSE: COHR
Key Data Points
Here come the bulls
By my count, no fewer than six analysts covering Coherent raised their price targets on the stock in the hours following the earnings release.
One of this pack was Benchmark's Mark Miller, who now believes the shares are worth $170 apiece, well up from his previous fair value estimation of $110. According to reports, Miller was particularly impressed with the company's performance in its crucial data center segment, which is experiencing quite the surge on the relatively heavy requirements of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
