New York, May 29, 2026, 16:01 (EDT)
Coherent Corp. dropped 6.6% Friday, falling to around $352. Shares touched $343.51 during the session. The stock had finished at $376.95 on Thursday. Coherent is among the AI-infrastructure names that have drawn attention this year.
The change is notable since Coherent is now seen as more than just a niche photonics player. S&P Dow Jones Indices added both Coherent and Lumentum to the S&P 500 in March, putting Coherent into the large-cap benchmark tracked by trillions in index funds and ETFs — pooled funds that trade like stocks.
Friday’s drop came even as the broader market moved higher. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust gained roughly 0.3%. Invesco QQQ Trust, tracking the big Nasdaq growth names, was up about 0.5% late in the day.
Lumentum dropped roughly 2.3%, but Ciena shares barely moved. The selling didn’t hit every data-networking stock, so investors appear to be getting more selective with their AI optical-networking bets instead of pulling out of the group all at once.
Coherent did not put out any new release in the past day to explain the move. Quiver PriceTracker flagged earlier Friday that the drop looked less about a new company headline and more about traders taking profits after AI and optical networking stocks ran higher.
AI data centers are still the main part of the bull case. Back in March, Nvidia and Coherent said they reached a multiyear deal, including a $2 billion Nvidia investment in Coherent and a separate multibillion-dollar order plus capacity on advanced laser and optical-networking gear. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said they were “pioneering next-generation silicon photonics.” Coherent CEO Jim Anderson called Coherent a “key enabler” for AI data-center infrastructure. Coherent Inc
Coherent turned in fiscal Q3 revenue of $1.81 billion, up 21% from last year, with non-GAAP EPS at $1.41. Non-GAAP strips out certain items the company says aren’t tied to day-to-day operations. CEO Anderson said demand in datacenter and communications was “exceptionally strong.” CFO Sherri Luther said the company has “strong visibility” on demand. GlobeNewswire
The stock’s move comes down to the business mix. Coherent saw $1.36 billion in Datacenter & Communications sales last quarter. That’s well ahead of Industrial’s $444 million. The company now sees fourth-quarter revenue ranging from $1.91 billion to $2.05 billion, with adjusted EPS projected at $1.52 to $1.72.
Analysts are mostly positive but targets are mixed. According to StockAnalysis, 20 analysts have an average “Buy” on the stock, with a 12-month target of $380.62. Stifel bumped its target up to $420 and Rosenblatt’s Mike Genovese set his at $425 in more recent notes. StockAnalysis
But the risk is that hopes have run ahead of reality. In its latest quarterly filing, Coherent listed risk factors that could have a real impact on its business, finances, or future results, and warned that unknown or not-yet-material issues could harm its operations. That’s boilerplate, but with shares trading on AI-driven demand, any slip in orders, production glitches, or weaker margins could land harder.
Friday shaped up as more of a valuation pause than any sign the AI optics story is broken. Next, it comes down to whether Coherent can actually convert Nvidia-related orders and stronger data-center moves into the real revenue, margin and cash-flow numbers that the market is already expecting.
