Coherent Corp (COHR) Stock Surges on AI Demand and Earnings Beat: Latest News and Outlook as of November 30, 2025

Coherent Corp (NYSE: COHR), the photonics and optical networking specialist formerly known as II‑VI, has become one of 2025’s standout semiconductor-adjacent stocks. As of the close on Friday, November 28, the last trading day before November 30, Coherent shares were trading in the mid‑$160s after jumping around 7–8% on the day, putting the stock near fresh 52‑week highs and up more than 60% year‑to‑date. ^[1]

That rally is being driven by a string of positive catalysts: a strong fiscal Q1 2026 earnings beat, brisk demand from AI data centers, analyst price‑target upgrades, strategic divestitures aimed at paying down debt, and improving credit metrics. At the same time, investors are weighing rich valuations, insider selling, and a new shareholder investigation by Pomerantz LLP.

Below is a comprehensive, news-driven look at Coherent stock as of November 30, 2025, suitable for readers following the name via Google News or Discover.

Coherent Corp stock today: price action as of November 30, 2025

Coherent’s latest leg higher came on Friday, November 28, when the stock spiked roughly 7–8% on heavy volume after traders digested the company’s most recent earnings beat and a series of bullish analyst notes. One real‑time trading recap put the last trade at about $166–167 with the stock up just over 8% and volume above 5 million shares. ^[2]

Different data providers peg the late‑day close slightly differently, but they all agree on the key points:

Price zone: mid‑$160s as of November 28
YTD performance: around +60–65% in 2025 ^[3]
52‑week range: roughly mid‑$40s to mid‑$160s, putting shares right near their highs ^[4]
1‑year gain (Nov 2024–Nov 2025): about +57%, versus mid‑teens returns for the S&P 500 over the same period ^[5]

Longer term, Trefis estimates COHR’s price is up over 300% from late 2022, driven by both revenue growth and a large expansion in its earnings multiple. ^[6]

In short, Coherent has transitioned from a deep‑value, restructuring story into a high‑beta AI‑infrastructure play that now trades like a growth stock.

Earnings recap: Coherent’s Q1 FY2026 beat powered by AI datacenters

The immediate fuel for the recent rally was Coherent’s fiscal Q1 2026 report (quarter ended September 30, 2025), released on November 5. ^[7]

Key headline numbers:

Revenue:$1.58 billion, up 17% year‑over‑year, and 19% on a pro‑forma basis excluding the recently sold Aerospace & Defense business ^[8]
GAAP gross margin:36.6%, up 249 basis points year‑over‑year
Non‑GAAP gross margin:38.7%, up about 200 basis points
GAAP EPS:$1.19, a swing of more than $1 per share versus the prior‑year period
Non‑GAAP EPS:$1.16, up roughly $0.49 year‑on‑year and well ahead of the ~$1.04 consensus ^[9]
Debt reduction: management highlighted $400 million of debt repayment and refinancing to lower interest expense ^[10]

The quarter’s strength was concentrated in the Datacenter & Communications segment, which Trefis estimates grew roughly mid‑20s percent year‑over‑year, driven by demand for 800G and early 1.6T optical transceivers for AI data centers. ^[11]

For Q2 FY2026, Coherent guided to:

Revenue:$1.56–$1.70 billion
Non‑GAAP gross margin:38–40%
Non‑GAAP EPS:$1.10–$1.30 ^[12]

That guidance implies continued double‑digit growth and sustained high‑30s gross margins, which helps explain why several Wall Street firms rushed to lift their price targets after the release.

How fiscal 2025 reset the baseline

Q1’s beat landed on top of a strong fiscal 2025 (year ended June 30, 2025), giving investors confidence that the recent surge isn’t just a one‑off. In its August 13, 2025 release, Coherent reported: ^[13]

FY25 revenue:$5.81 billion, up 23% year‑over‑year
FY25 GAAP gross margin:35.2%, up 424 bps
FY25 non‑GAAP gross margin:37.9%, up 358 bps
FY25 GAAP EPS:–$0.52, a significant improvement versus the prior‑year loss
FY25 non‑GAAP EPS:$3.53, up $2.32 year‑on‑year

Management attributed much of that momentum to AI‑related demand: one pre‑earnings preview noted the AI datacenter and communications division grew about 50% in FY25, helped by 800G transceiver ramps and early shipments into 1.6T designs. ^[14]

The company also used improved cash flow to reduce leverage, repaying approximately $437 million of debt during FY25. ^[15]

Together, FY25 and Q1 FY26 paint a picture of a business that has structurally moved to higher revenue and margin levels, with AI‑linked optics and materials now firmly at the core.

Analyst ratings and price targets for COHR stock

Wall Street’s view of Coherent is broadly positive but not unanimously so, reflecting enthusiasm about AI balanced against valuation concerns.

Consensus ratings

MarketBeat’s forecast page shows: ^[16]

Consensus rating: Moderate Buy
Analysts covered:19
Breakdown:13 Buy / 6 Hold / 0 Sell (with one of the buys classified as “Strong Buy”)

Benzinga’s aggregate of broker targets likewise characterizes the overall rating as “Buy” and lists: ^[17]

Highest price target:$220
Lowest price target:$85
Consensus target: about $133–137 per share

With the stock trading around $166, that average Street target implies roughly 15–20% downside over the next 12 months. ^[18]

In other words, analysts on average still like the business but are less comfortable with the current valuation after the rally.

Recent upgrades and target hikes

Several firms raised or reiterated bullish targets following Coherent’s strong run of results:

Needham: target increased to $190, with a Buy rating ^[19]
Barclays: target lifted to around $170, rating Overweight ^[20]
Stifel: reaffirmed Buy with a target around $140 ^[21]
Morgan Stanley: Equal‑Weight, but target raised from $120 to $150 on November 6 (a 25% bump) ^[22]
Susquehanna: Positive rating, target boosted from $120 to $150 in October ^[23]

On the more cautious side, Bank of America downgraded Coherent from Buy to Neutral in August, even as it nudged its target from $92 to $105, reflecting worries about valuation after a sharp run‑up. ^[24]

External quantitative services are also split:

GuruFocus’s “GF Value” model recently pegged fair value far below the current price, implying the stock was “significantly overvalued” when it traded near $140 (price‑to‑GF‑value ratio ~2.3). ^[25]
A Finviz/StockStory analysis pointed to five‑year sales CAGR of ~16.9% and EPS CAGR of ~38%, but noted that after the run to about $138, shares traded at roughly 26x forward earnings, already rich versus some peers. ^[26]

The net takeaway: Wall Street likes the story and the execution, but many analysts believe a lot of good news is already priced in.

Balance sheet, asset sales and credit ratings

Coherent has been actively reshaping its portfolio and balance sheet, with two big divestitures and improving credit commentary.

Sale of Aerospace & Defense business to Advent

On August 13, 2025, Coherent announced a definitive agreement to sell its Aerospace & Defense business to private‑equity firm Advent International for $400 million, with proceeds earmarked for debt reduction. ^[27]

The announcement initially spooked investors: shares dropped about 20% the next day, falling more than $22 to close around $91.65 on August 14. ^[28]

Planned sale of materials processing tools to Bystronic

On October 31, 2025, Coherent followed up with another divestiture, agreeing to sell its materials processing tools product division to Bystronic, a sheet‑metal processing specialist. Key details: ^[29]

The unit has about 400 employees
Generates roughly $100 million in annual sales
Proceeds will again be used to pay down debt
Management expects the deal to be immediately EPS‑accretive

Both transactions are part of a broader portfolio review aimed at focusing Coherent on higher‑growth, higher‑margin AI, datacenter, and advanced materials businesses.

Credit rating agencies turn more constructive

Credit agencies have taken note of the improving fundamentals:

S&P Global Ratings revised Coherent’s outlook from Negative to Stable in mid‑2025 while maintaining a speculative‑grade rating, citing expectations for more than $200 million in free cash flow in FY2025 and significantly higher figures in FY2026 thanks to margin expansion and deleveraging. ^[30]
Fitch Ratings affirmed Coherent at ‘BB’ with a Stable Outlook in November 2025, highlighting better profitability, debt reduction efforts and strong positions in AI‑linked markets, while warning about cyclical demand and capital intensity. ^[31]

Combined with the Q1 debt pay‑down, these moves suggest the balance sheet is trending in the right direction, even if leverage remains higher than that of some large‑cap chip names.

AI, data centers and Coherent’s product pipeline

Underneath the financials is an aggressive push into products explicitly tied to the AI infrastructure build‑out, as well as advanced industrial and life‑science applications.

Recent product and technology news includes:

ECOC 2025 awards: Coherent took home two awards at Europe’s largest optical‑communications conference: one for a Multi‑Rail Resource Pooling System that boosts C‑ and L‑band throughput while reducing power and hardware, and another for a 400G Differential EML (electro‑absorption modulated laser) tailored for next‑gen transceivers. ^[32]
100G ZR QSFP28 dual‑laser module: The company launched what it calls the industry’s first 100G ZR QSFP28 dual‑laser DCO module, enabling 10x capacity on existing 10 Gb/s networks and bi‑directional single‑fiber operation—useful for carriers upgrading without massive new fiber builds. ^[33]
Co‑packaged optics at NVIDIA GTC DC 2025: At NVIDIA’s GTC DC, Coherent showcased a portfolio of co‑packaged optics (CPO)‑enabling photonics—lasers, optics, detectors, and thermal solutions aimed at connecting AI accelerators inside future data centers more efficiently. ^[34]
Axon FP femtosecond laser (Nov 14, 2025): A new fiber‑delivered femtosecond laser designed for multiphoton microscopy in life sciences, intended to provide more flexible and accessible ultrafast laser capability for imaging systems. ^[35]
Next‑generation polarization‑maintaining fiber (Oct 28, 2025): A new optical fiber design optimized for narrow‑linewidth 1550 nm amplifiers with higher mode area and improved polarization stability, targeting LIDAR, quantum, and precision materials processing markets. ^[36]
EDGE CUT20 OEM cutting solution (Nov 10, 2025): An integrated laser head and fiber‑laser package for high‑power sheet‑metal cutting, aimed at OEMs in industrial manufacturing. ^[37]

These announcements reinforce the narrative that Coherent is not just enjoying cyclical AI spending but actively extending its technology lead in optical components, modules, and materials that sit at the heart of AI data centers, high‑speed networks, and precision industrial tools.

Legal, regulatory and geopolitical risks

Despite the bullish AI story, investors need to be aware of non‑fundamental risks that could affect Coherent’s stock.

Pomerantz LLP investigation

On October 28, 2025, law firm Pomerantz LLP announced it was investigating claims on behalf of Coherent investors. The firm is looking into whether the company and certain officers or directors engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices, linking its announcement to the market reaction following the August 13 Aerospace & Defense divestiture news. ^[38]

So far, this is only an investigation notice, not a concluded lawsuit or settlement, and such announcements are relatively common for volatile stocks. Still, it adds a layer of legal uncertainty and may encourage short‑term volatility as investors monitor developments.

Export controls and trade tensions

A TradingView/StockStory note on recent volatility highlighted that Coherent had previously sold off on worries about tightening U.S. export controls on technology going to China, which could impact companies that supply optical components and advanced materials. ^[39]

Separately, a GuruFocus SWOT analysis flagged global trade tensions and regulatory scrutiny—specifically a U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) inquiry into past sales to Huawei—as ongoing threats. ^[40]

Together, these issues underline that Coherent’s global footprint and China exposure remain potential flashpoints, even as AI demand is strong.

Technical signals and insider activity

Technical setup

From a trading perspective, Coherent has become a momentum stock:

Tim Sykes’s trading recap pointed to bullish price action with higher highs, strong relative strength, and key resistance around the high‑$160s, framing a potential move toward $180 if the breakout holds. ^[41]
Trefis data suggests COHR returned about 70% between late August and late November 2025, vastly outpacing both the S&P 500 and the broader tech sector. ^[42]

Some technical commentators, including an Investor’s Business Daily/MarketWatch roundup, have warned that Coherent has triggered multiple “sell signals” (such as extended distance above key moving averages and signs of distribution), even as its fundamental story remains strong. ^[43]

In practice that means the stock’s near‑term path may be dominated as much by sentiment and positioning as by incremental news.

Insider selling

On the insider front, director Stephen Skaggs sold 2,000 shares on October 29, 2025, leaving him with 22,108 shares. GuruFocus notes that over the past year, Skaggs has sold 6,000 shares and that Coherent has seen far more insider sales than buys overall (2 buys vs 19 sells). ^[44]

At the time of his latest sale, the stock price was about $140, and GuruFocus’ valuation model suggested Coherent was trading at more than 2x its estimated intrinsic value, a sign of perceived overvaluation from that framework. ^[45]

Insider selling isn’t automatically bearish—executives sell for many personal reasons—but the pattern is consistent with a stock that has already run hard.

Valuation check: what’s priced into Coherent stock?

The core tension around Coherent today is simple: fundamentals have improved dramatically, but the share price has moved even faster.

Several datapoints illustrate the valuation debate:

Finviz/StockStory estimated that at $138.45, Coherent traded at about 26x forward earnings; with the price now closer to the mid‑$160s, that forward P/E likely sits in the low‑30s, depending on which earnings forecast you use. ^[46]
Trefis shows the price‑to‑sales multiple expanding significantly over the past year, with the P/S ratio moving from around 3.0 to nearly 4.0 as investors began valuing Coherent more like a high‑growth AI beneficiary. ^[47]
GuruFocus’ GF Value model suggests potential downside of more than 50% from some recent price points, assuming the stock ultimately trades back to its historical valuation band. ^[48]
By contrast, some fundamental analysts on Seeking Alpha argue that Coherent’s “quality plus AI tailwinds” justify a premium multiple, pointing to nine consecutive “double‑beat” quarters (revenue and EPS above estimates) and rapid EPS growth. ^[49]

Put simply: bulls see a high‑quality compounder at the heart of the AI and silicon‑carbide boom; bears see a cyclical hardware name priced for perfection.

Coherent Corp (COHR) outlook into 2026

As of November 30, 2025, the Coherent story is defined by three big forces:

Structural AI and datacenter tailwinds
- Strong demand for 800G/1.6T optical links and co‑packaged optics
- Expanding opportunities in silicon carbide (SiC) for EVs and power electronics
- An active product pipeline winning awards at major industry events ^[50]
Improving profitability and balance sheet
- FY25 and Q1 FY26 show sustained revenue growth, margin expansion, and rising EPS
- Significant debt pay‑down and portfolio pruning, with two major divestitures that refocus the business and free up cash ^[51]
Valuation, legal and macro risks
- High multiples relative to historical norms and some peers
- Legal overhang from the Pomerantz LLP investigation
- Ongoing exposure to export controls, China demand, and broader semiconductor cycles ^[52]

For readers following COHR via Google News or Discover, the key question isn’t whether Coherent is a real AI‑infrastructure winner—that debate is largely settled by the company’s recent numbers. The open debate is how much of that future is already baked into the share price, and how the company will navigate regulatory and cyclical bumps along the way.

Coherent Is An AI Stock You Need To Watch