New York, Jan 17, 2026, 19:09 EST — Market closed
Coherent Corp shares closed Friday down 2.5%, slipping to $191.04 after a big bounce the day before. The photonics supplier had surged 6.4% on Thursday, reaching an intraday peak of $210.90 before retreating. Wall Street’s fresh price-target upgrades kept the stock in focus on AI-driven trading lists. 1
Coherent’s stock has gained attention as a high-beta play on data center optical link spending, where “transceivers” handle signal conversion between electrical and light forms to shuttle data across machines. With U.S. markets closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Tuesday’s open will act as a fresh starting point for traders. 2
Coherent is heading to Photonics West in San Francisco, a major event known for sparking customer buzz and competitive launches in lasers and optical gear. From Jan. 17 to Jan. 22, the company plans to unveil its new Sapphire XT visible-laser platform. 3
Bank of America’s Vivek Arya raised his price target for Coherent to $210 from $165 while maintaining a Neutral rating. He noted the firm also bumped up targets for peer Lumentum, citing strong demand for optical transceivers and components that “continues to exceed supply.” 4
Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley bumped his price target to $215 from $170, keeping an Overweight rating in place. The bank expects 2026 to favor those closely linked to the artificial intelligence theme, saying top-quality stocks connected to AI expansion should shine—even as the conversation pivots to the true scale of demand. 5
Morgan Stanley analyst Meta Marshall took a cautious stance on valuation, even as she raised her price target to $180 from $150 and maintained an Equal Weight rating. She noted the AI rally had expanded beyond chipmakers into infrastructure, especially optical sectors, but cautioned investors to “get more selective for full year returns given multiples.” 6
Coherent unveiled two new products Thursday: the FieldMax Touch and FieldMax Touch Pro, rugged touchscreen laser power and energy meters built for factory, service, and field environments. “FieldMax Touch brings true lab-grade diagnostics into the factory and the field,” said Torsten Rauch, senior vice president of Coherent’s solid-state business unit. 7
On Friday, Coherent rolled out AxioView imaging fiber assemblies designed for catheter-based medical imaging, including optical coherence tomography (OCT), which uses reflected light to create cross-sectional tissue images. “AxioView combines our specialty fiber expertise…to help customers to market faster,” said Dr. Stefan Ruppik, global vice president and general manager at Coherent. 8
Coherent introduced a germanium-free electro-optic modulator (EOM), a key part that switches laser beams to produce short pulses for semiconductor “via drilling”—the process of making tiny holes for chip packaging and interconnects. “Supply security is critical,” said Steve Rummel, senior VP at Coherent, highlighting the limited availability of germanium in older designs. 9
Separately, the company announced it made Forbes’ 2026 America’s Best Companies list. CEO Jim Anderson credited “the teams around the world who support one another and deliver for our customers every day.” 10
Traders now wonder if Thursday’s sharp jump in price targets was just a one-off squeeze or the beginning of a fresh rally in the optical-AI sector. Friday’s retreat indicates sellers remain lined up near the peak.
Tuesday’s reopening session is the next catalyst, following Monday’s holiday. Investors will be weighing fresh insights from Photonics West and deciding if the recent “AI optics” upgrades warrant another premium.
