nLIGHT

nLIGHT reported Q2 FY2026. EPS came in at $0.15 against a $0.14 consensus, beat by 6.3%. Revenue was $82.6M versus $78.6M expected, beat by 5.1%. Gross margin was 31.1%, down 200 bps from last quarter.

nLIGHT reported a strong Q1 FY2026, with revenue and EPS both significantly beating street estimates. Revenue grew 55% year-over-year to $80.2 million, and EPS came in at $0.20, a 150% surprise over the $0.08 estimate. The company's performance was driven by strong growth in both aerospace and defense and commercial markets.

nLIGHT beat the Street because aerospace and defense growth is moving from program visibility into revenue, margin, cash, and non-GAAP earnings. The debate is no longer whether the portfolio has changed, but whether the company can sustain that conversion while commercial cutting and welding remains a deliberate drag.

nLIGHT printed a -12.3% revenue surprise versus Street expectations, yet the non-GAAP EPS beat exposed the more investable point: aerospace and defense is changing the model faster than consensus revenue timing captured. The market was priced for a cleaner revenue beat; what it got was a mix-and-margin inflection that makes the Q4 revenue range, product gross margin guide, and defense backlog conversion the real swing factors.

nLIGHT cleared Q2 because A&D, development work, and directed-energy product shipments changed the earnings slope faster than estimates moved. The market was priced for another loss-making photonics print, but the surprise was that defense mix lifted revenue, gross margin, and non-GAAP EPS at the same time, while Q3 guidance tests whether this is a program-driven step-up or a one-quarter HELSI-2 pull-forward.