TLDR
- Coherent (COHR) stock traded near $211 after hours following a 6% drop in regular trading.
- Fiscal Q1 revenue was $2.37 billion and adjusted EPS was $2.09, both above estimates.
- Datacenter and communications revenue rose 79% to $1.95 billion.
- Q2 guidance calls for revenue of $2.55 billion to $2.75 billion.
- Northland upgraded the stock to Outperform with a $280 target earlier this week.
Coherent (COHR) stock is trading near $211 in after-hours action after a better-than-expected fiscal first quarter. That move followed a 6% drop in the regular session.
It was a day of two halves. Traders sold the stock by day, and buyers stepped in once the numbers came out.
Revenue for the quarter ended in September hit $2.37 billion. That topped the $2.31 billion analysts polled by FactSet expected, and it is up nearly 50% from a year ago.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.09. Analysts were looking for about $1.98, a beat of roughly 10 cents.
Reports differ on the size of the after-hours pop. One had the stock up 8%, and another had it up 4%.
Election Jitters Hit First
The daytime selloff tied back to the midterms. Investors worried that data center buildouts could slow after big Democratic wins.
Coherent’s transceivers, cables, and switches go into AI data centers, so the worry hit close to home. The stock closed the regular session down about 6%.
The wider market went the other way. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both finished higher on the day.
Peer Fabrinet had already set a friendly tone. It reported on November 2 with revenue up 51% and data center growth of 78%.
Datacenter Sales Lead the Beat
The datacenter and communications segment was the standout. Its revenue rose 79% from a year ago to $1.95 billion.
CEO Jim Anderson pointed to a change in how data centers connect. “As AI datacenters transition from copper to optical connectivity, Coherent’s broad photonics platform and manufacturing scale position us to help customers meet rising needs for bandwidth and energy efficiency,” he said.
Guidance came in above the quarter just reported. Coherent expects second-quarter revenue of $2.55 billion to $2.75 billion.
It sees earnings per share between $2.28 and $2.48. That compares with $2.09 for the quarter it just posted.
An analyst move came earlier in the week. Northland Capital Markets upgraded Coherent to Outperform with a $280 price target.
Northland pointed to the scarcity of indium phosphide device capabilities. That follows the Marvell and Lumentum deal.
The stock was near $211 in after-hours trading, with the gain reported between 4% and 8%.
