Nlight (LASR) Likely to Face Pressure From High Expectations, Reit Strong Buy at Raymond James

Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale reiterated a Strong Buy rating and $30.00 price target on Nlight (NASDAQ: LASR) but noting that shares have outperformed the market by 14% since the 4Q18 report leaving the stock priced for perfection heading into earnings. Heightened expectations coupled with higher OPEX guidance, some Microfab pushout, and low-end pricing pressure is likely to weigh on the stock in the coming days.

That said, the analyst remains positive on the company stating "we have to remember that the environment is tough and judging by what we have seen from other industrial tech players, nLIGHT’s results and outlook is pretty darn good. Additionally, despite some aggressive tweets and positioning over the last week, we believe the underlying China-exposure dynamic has improved over the last quarter as evident by tangible items such as Chinese stimulus and improving economic metrics. Looking ahead we expect LASR to close the gap and migrate to our $30 price target following the respectable start to 2019, encouraging new-product progress, geographic diversification, market share gains and continued evolution up the power spectrum. Finally, we view LASR as a premier small cap growth name and one of the few names that we cover that has clear paths for revenue AND margin acceleration at this point in the economic cycle".

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Nlight click here. For more ratings news on Nlight click here.

Shares of Nlight closed at $24.14 yesterday.

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