Atlatl Advisers LLC lowered its position in Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report) by 14.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,815 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 834 shares during the period. Atlatl Advisers LLC’s holdings in Lumentum were worth $4,677,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Red Spruce Capital LLC lifted its stake in Lumentum by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,108,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC increased its stake in shares of Lumentum by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 209 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 26.8% in the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 71 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC raised its stake in Lumentum by 118.8% during the first quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 35 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lumentum by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC now owns 3,191 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,099,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.05% of the company’s stock.
Insider Transactions at Lumentum In other news, insider Yuen Wupen sold 307 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $945.00, for a total value of $290,115.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 108,320 shares in the company, valued at $102,362,400. This represents a 0.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Wajid Ali sold 24,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,048.50, for a total value of $25,732,287.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 75,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,715,089. The trade was a 24.64% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 94,496 shares of company stock worth $85,978,498. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LITE shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Lumentum from $1,100.00 to $1,232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Lumentum in a research report on Monday, August 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $1,200.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,036.00 price target on shares of Lumentum in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,040.00 price target on shares of Lumentum in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Evercore assumed coverage on shares of Lumentum in a research note on Monday, August 31st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,100.00 price objective for the company. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,080.83. Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on LITE
Trending Headlines about Lumentum Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:
Positive Sentiment: Jefferies reportedly raised its price target on Lumentum to $1,250, signaling continued confidence in the company’s AI-optics growth prospects. Lumentum stock rises pre-market; Jefferies lifts target to USD 1,250 Positive Sentiment: Brown Advisory identified Lumentum as an opportunity within AI infrastructure, reflecting institutional support for the company’s exposure to optical components used in data centers. Management has also highlighted strong AI demand through early 2029. Brown Advisory Sees AI Infrastructure Opportunity in Lumentum Holdings Inc. (LITE) Neutral Sentiment: Investors are looking ahead to Lumentum’s fiscal first-quarter update on November 4. The company has guided revenue above the prior quarter, while its latest reported quarter exceeded analyst expectations for both earnings and revenue, creating a potentially important catalyst but also raising expectations. Negative Sentiment: Lumentum shares have fallen sharply over the past week as investors reduced exposure to AI-optics stocks following a hotter-than-expected September inflation report. Higher interest-rate concerns are weighing particularly heavily on high-growth technology valuations. Lumentum Holdings (LITE) Fell In The AI Optics Selloff, Is It Still Undervalued? Negative Sentiment: The broader technology selloff has spread across optical-networking peers, including Coherent and Applied Optoelectronics, suggesting the recent weakness is driven more by sector-wide positioning and valuation concerns than by a new company-specific setback. Optics Stocks Tumble as Tech Selloff Deepens Ahead of Earnings Negative Sentiment: Lumentum’s CFO reportedly sold approximately $25.7 million of stock ahead of earnings. Although insider selling does not necessarily indicate deteriorating fundamentals, the timing may add to investor caution. Lumentum Slips Off Its $1,143 Peak as CFO Sells $25.7 Million Ahead of Earnings Lumentum Trading Up 0.5% NASDAQ LITE opened at $756.17 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $924.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $877.75. Lumentum Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $173.73 and a 12 month high of $1,143.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $68.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.20 and a beta of 1.53.
Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The technology company reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $987.70 million. Lumentum had a positive return on equity of 26.34% and a negative net margin of 230.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 109.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Lumentum has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 4.050-4.350 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 19.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Lumentum Profile (Free Report)
Lumentum Holdings Inc is a technology company that designs and manufactures optical and photonic products for communications networks, industrial applications, and consumer electronics. Its portfolio includes optical components, modules, and subsystems used in fiber-optic networks, data centers, cloud computing infrastructure, telecommunications equipment, and high-speed connectivity systems.
The company also develops laser products for applications such as industrial processing, sensing, three-dimensional imaging, and other specialized commercial and consumer uses.
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Net Worth Advisory Group lessened its stake in Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report) by 84.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 372 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,073 shares during the quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group’s holdings in Lumentum were worth $389,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lumentum in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,621,396,000. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Lumentum in the 2nd quarter valued at about $494,688,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Lumentum in the second quarter valued at approximately $376,539,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in Lumentum by 188.7% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 658,427 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $564,970,000 after buying an additional 430,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Lumentum by 163.2% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 567,182 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $398,590,000 after acquiring an additional 351,676 shares in the last quarter. 94.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Key Headlines Impacting Lumentum Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:
Positive Sentiment: Lumentum’s optical and photonic products are benefiting from strong artificial-intelligence infrastructure demand. Management has indicated that capacity is booked through early 2029, supporting the long-term growth case. Lumentum Can’t Meet Demand. Can Its Valuation Hold Up? Positive Sentiment: Optics stocks, including Lumentum, recently rallied ahead of upcoming quarterly results, reflecting expectations that AI-related demand and raised guidance could support earnings. Optics Stocks Rally Ahead of Earnings Positive Sentiment: A Zacks growth-stock analysis highlights Lumentum’s potential for long-term, market-beating performance, although the article is based primarily on screening factors rather than a new company announcement. Why Lumentum Is a Top Growth Stock for the Long-Term Neutral Sentiment: Lumentum is being compared with Arm as a 2026 technology investment, with Lumentum positioned as an AI-infrastructure optical supplier. The comparison offers investment perspective but does not introduce a specific catalyst. Arm vs. Lumentum Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded Lumentum to Hold, adding near-term selling pressure and signaling that the stock’s valuation and risk-reward profile may be less attractive after its substantial advance. Zacks Downgrades Lumentum Stock to Hold Negative Sentiment: Recent analysis points to a valuation-driven AI sell-off: Lumentum declined sharply over several sessions even as demand remained strong, suggesting investors are taking profits and demanding stronger earnings revisions. Why Did Lumentum Stock Fall? Negative Sentiment: Investors are questioning whether Lumentum can sustain its elevated valuation while it works to meet demand. The broader AI-stock sell-off is weighing on sentiment despite capacity constraints and higher guidance. The AI Sell-Off Continues Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Lumentum from $1,165.00 to $1,280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Lumentum in a research note on Monday, August 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $1,200.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Lumentum from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Evercore initiated coverage on shares of Lumentum in a research report on Monday, August 31st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,100.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research cut Lumentum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lumentum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,080.83. Read Our Latest Analysis on Lumentum
Lumentum Stock Down 1.4% LITE opened at $822.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.40. Lumentum Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $152.54 and a 12 month high of $1,143.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $931.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $878.96. The stock has a market cap of $74.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.00 and a beta of 1.53.
Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The technology company reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $987.70 million. Lumentum had a negative net margin of 230.15% and a positive return on equity of 26.34%. Lumentum’s revenue was up 109.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Lumentum has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 4.050-4.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 19.79 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Lumentum In related news, CEO Michael E. Hurlston sold 548 shares of Lumentum stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $958.66, for a total transaction of $525,345.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 186,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $179,222,445.66. This trade represents a 0.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jae Kim sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.58, for a total transaction of $10,230,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 37,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,230,934.32. This trade represents a 24.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 94,496 shares of company stock worth $85,978,498 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.
Lumentum Company Profile (Free Report)
Lumentum Holdings Inc is a technology company that designs and manufactures optical and photonic products for communications networks, industrial applications, and consumer electronics. Its portfolio includes optical components, modules, and subsystems used in fiber-optic networks, data centers, cloud computing infrastructure, telecommunications equipment, and high-speed connectivity systems.
The company also develops laser products for applications such as industrial processing, sensing, three-dimensional imaging, and other specialized commercial and consumer uses.
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Stock to Watch: Lumentum (LITE - Free Report) Lumentum Holdings Inc. is a provider of optical and photonic products serving cloud, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), telecommunications, consumer and industrial end markets. The company’s portfolio spans semiconductor laser chips and sub-assemblies, wavelength management systems, optical modules, optical circuit switches and industrial lasers used in precision materials processing. Its technologies enable high-capacity optical links for intra-data center, data center interconnect, long-haul and submarine networks, and support enterprise networking across SANs, LANs and WANs. Industrial laser products are used in semiconductor and microelectronics fabrication, electric vehicle and battery production, metal cutting and welding, and other advanced manufacturing.
LITE is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of B.
Additionally, the company could be a top pick for growth investors. LITE has a Growth Style Score of A, forecasting year-over-year earnings growth of 146.8% for the current fiscal year.
One analyst revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2027. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.13 to $21.40 per share. LITE boasts an average earnings surprise of +9.8%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Growth and VGM Style Scores, LITE should be on investors' short list.
The artificial intelligence (AI) trade finally cracked. After months of resilience while utilities, real estate and consumer discretionary names took a beating, the market's favorite growth story is now the one getting sold, and investors sitting on big gains are rushing to lock them in.
The fear has a familiar shape. Earlier this year, software stocks were written off as AI roadkill, and the slide dragged on for roughly 60 days. Many of those same names have since reclaimed all-time highs, because the earnings never broke the way the headlines said they would.
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That's the tension now. Prices are falling across AI infrastructure while the companies building it keep raising guidance, reporting sold-out capacity and pointing to backlogs that stretch for years. When price and fundamentals move in opposite directions, valuations compress, and that gap is where opportunity tends to surface.
AI Sell-Off Looks Driven by Positioning, Not Broken FundamentalsThe selling looks more like positioning than a verdict on the businesses, per Lucas Downey, editor at TradeSmith. Many investors came into the slide underweight in the interest-rate-sensitive stocks that look most attractive as rates come down, while sitting on large embedded gains in AI. Selling the winners is the fastest way to rebalance, while some heavily leveraged investors may have no choice but to sell.
Seasonality adds friction. Late September has historically been weak, and midterm election years tend to run volatile as investors handicap the fight for Congress. Downey sees signs of capitulation and puts a potential bottom in the next couple of weeks, with earnings season the likely catalyst. By his read, further downside remains on the table.
The deeper worry, though, is whether hyperscalers can keep paying for the build-out as data center costs climb. Downey points to what suppliers are reporting. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing NYSE: TSM and ASML Holding NASDAQ: ASML have described demand as strong and, in many cases, accelerating, and committed contracts stretch out for years.
Optical Components Sell Out Into 2029 as Earnings Estimates RiseLumentum Holdings NASDAQ: LITE makes the lasers and optical components that move enormous volumes of data at high speed inside AI data centers. As demand runs into the limits of materials and manufacturing capacity, those parts become a bottleneck.
Lumentum Today
$840.47 +16.34 (+1.98%)
As of 03:20 PM Eastern
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
$152.54▼
$1,143.00$1,078.75
CEO Michael Hurlston has said the company is sold out of optical components for AI servers through early 2029. Sales over the last 12 months came in just over $3 billion, and estimates cited by Downey call for about $6.3 billion over the next 12 months, approaching $10 billion the year after. Earnings per share (EPS) estimates sit at $21.70 for fiscal 2027 and $47.88 for fiscal 2029.
A roughly 400% gain over the past year is exactly what makes latecomers nervous. But the stock has dropped about 15% in a week, and with estimates rising as the price falls, the forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has compressed to about 42. The market is pricing a momentum unwind. Another round of upward estimate revisions could change that, so earnings follow-through is the thing to watch.
AI Server Demand Fuels a Blowout Beat and RaiseDell Technologies NYSE: DELL spent decades as the personal computer brand everyone knew. Its infrastructure business, spanning servers, storage, networking equipment and software, has turned it into a cornerstone of the AI build-out, and the stock has climbed more than 200% in a year.
Dell Technologies Today
DELL
Dell Technologies
$452.36 +0.65 (+0.14%)
As of 03:20 PM Eastern
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
$110.22▼
$595.510.56%
26.23
$569.96
The latest quarter was a beat and a raise. Per Downey, Dell guided third-quarter EPS to $6.50 against estimates of $4.46 and revenue to $49 billion against a consensus just above $41 billion, then lifted its fiscal 2027 outlook. In his view, the stock effectively repriced on that report.
A surprise that big raises the bar, and priced-for-perfection risk is real. The counterweight is valuation. With forward estimates climbing while shares slide, the forward P/E has fallen to around 18, below the broader market. The market is pricing an AI hardware hangover. Next quarter's results are what to watch, since they test whether this guidance was a one-off.
Enterprise Flash Storage Lands Hyperscale Wins and a Higher OutlookThe smallest of the three is Everpure NYSE: P, which builds all-flash data storage systems, the infrastructure companies use to manage data and run AI workloads, at enterprise scale. Management had flagged hyperscale customer wins, and those are starting to show up in results.
Everpure Today
P
Everpure
$127.33 +3.32 (+2.68%)
As of 03:20 PM Eastern
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
$56.78▼
$157.57174.41
$143.25
Everpure reiterated guidance and raised its preliminary fiscal 2028 outlook to $7.15 billion at the midpoint, against a Street estimate of $6.2 billion. That's a message of acceleration, not slowdown. The stock also scores an 88 on TradeSmith's proprietary Quantum Edge system, which blends fundamental and technical factors into a single rating; TradeSmith reads that as a high-quality stock.
Storage and memory names such as Micron Technology NASDAQ: MU and Sandisk NASDAQ: SNDK have been caught in the same downdraft, even as workloads keep growing. A smaller company brings bigger swings, and stocks don't move in straight lines. What could change sentiment is continued upward movement in analysts' EPS forecasts, and that trend is the one to watch.
Earnings Revisions Hold the Key to the End of the AI Sell-OffLumentum, Dell and Everpure sit at different links in the same chain: optics that move the data, servers that process it and storage that holds it. What connects them is a widening gap—falling share prices against rising forward numbers.
The risk is that the hyperscaler spending debate drags on, flows stay negative, and the smaller names take the hardest hits, much like software's two-month grind. The upside is that sold-out capacity, multi-year backlogs and raised guidance are company-reported numbers, and compressed valuations leave room to recover if earnings season confirms them.
None of this requires calling the exact bottom. It does require hyperscalers to keep spending and these companies to deliver on guidance already issued. Stay focused on earnings revisions, because that's what moves these stocks once the selling runs its course.
For more of Downey's AI research and TradeSmith's fundamental scoring tools, get the TradeSmith Investment Report and its AI stock recommendations.
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Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report) by 301.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,260 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 946 shares during the period. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC’s holdings in Lumentum were worth $1,224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lumentum during the third quarter worth approximately $411,000. Mosley Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 440.0% in the third quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 81 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Lumentum during the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Lumentum during the 3rd quarter valued at $423,000. Finally, TB Alternative Assets Ltd. acquired a new position in Lumentum during the third quarter worth about $8,897,000. 94.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Lumentum News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:
Positive Sentiment: Lumentum is reportedly sold out of much of its capacity through 2029, suggesting strong visibility for future revenue as AI data-center operators expand their optical-networking infrastructure. Wedbush views the supply constraints as potentially beneficial to industry economics, although the article also considers implications for GlobalFoundries. Lumentum is sold out through 2029 Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas raised its price target for Lumentum to $1,425, signaling confidence that demand for the company’s optical and laser products can support additional upside. BNP Paribas lifts target for Lumentum Positive Sentiment: The upcoming earnings report is expected to be closely watched for evidence that AI-driven demand, order visibility and margins remain strong. Lumentum’s latest reported quarter exceeded both earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue more than doubling year over year. Earnings preview for Lumentum Neutral Sentiment: A survey of 23 analysts places the average price target at $1,078.75, indicating continued upside potential but also considerable disagreement about how much of Lumentum’s AI growth is already reflected in the stock. Analyst price targets for Lumentum Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded Lumentum to Hold, adding to near-term pressure and signaling that the stock’s valuation and recent gains may warrant caution. Zacks downgrades Lumentum to Hold Negative Sentiment: Optical stocks, including Lumentum, have extended their decline as investors rotate toward defensive sectors. The group-wide selling suggests that market positioning and risk appetite—not only company-specific fundamentals—are weighing on LITE. Optical stocks extend slide Negative Sentiment: A risk assessment notes that Lumentum shares remain highly exposed to expectations for AI data-center spending after a substantial one-year increase. The recent pullback reflects concerns that valuation leaves little room for execution disappointments or a slowdown in customer demand. How risky is Lumentum stock? Lumentum Trading Down 5.2% Shares of LITE stock opened at $824.13 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.02 and a beta of 1.53. Lumentum Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $152.54 and a 1 year high of $1,143.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $931.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $876.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The technology company reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $987.70 million. Lumentum had a positive return on equity of 26.34% and a negative net margin of 230.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 109.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Lumentum has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 4.050-4.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 19.79 EPS for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Lumentum In other news, insider Yuen Wupen sold 307 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $945.00, for a total transaction of $290,115.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 108,320 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,362,400. This represents a 0.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Wajid Ali sold 24,542 shares of Lumentum stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,048.50, for a total value of $25,732,287.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 75,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,715,089. This represents a 24.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 94,496 shares of company stock worth $85,978,498 in the last 90 days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes Several research firms have issued reports on LITE. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Lumentum from $1,100.00 to $1,000.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,040.00 price target on shares of Lumentum in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings cut Lumentum from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Lumentum from $1,100.00 to $1,232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Lumentum in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,220.00 price target on the stock. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,078.75.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Lumentum
About Lumentum (Free Report)
Lumentum Holdings Inc is a technology company that designs and manufactures optical and photonic products for communications networks, industrial applications, and consumer electronics. Its portfolio includes optical components, modules, and subsystems used in fiber-optic networks, data centers, cloud computing infrastructure, telecommunications equipment, and high-speed connectivity systems.
The company also develops laser products for applications such as industrial processing, sensing, three-dimensional imaging, and other specialized commercial and consumer uses.
Read More Five stocks we like better than Lumentum Rocket Lab’s Neutron Delay Leaves Wall Street Bullish But Raises the Stakes for 2027 ManpowerGroup Stock Sinks on Q3 Results, But Fundamentals Stay Solid Does the AI Selloff Put Alphabet’s Breakout in Doubt? Bank Earnings Are Mixed—These 2 ETFs Offer Very Different Paths to a Recovery Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LITE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report).
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First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,362 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,323,000.
Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LITE. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Lumentum during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Sachetta LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 118.8% in the first quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 35 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Burkett Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lumentum in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lumentum in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lumentum in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. 94.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LITE shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,040.00 target price on shares of Lumentum in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Lumentum in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Lumentum from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Lumentum from $800.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Lumentum from $1,100.00 to $1,000.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,078.75.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on LITE Key Lumentum News Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:
Positive Sentiment: Analyst price targets remain above the current share price. A survey of 23 analysts produced an average target of $1,078.75, implying substantial potential upside, while Stifel raised its target from $1,100 to $1,232. These targets indicate that some analysts still expect strong demand for Lumentum’s photonics and optical components. 23 analysts set USD 1,078.75 target for Lumentum stock Stifel raised target for Lumentum stock Positive Sentiment: The long-term AI investment case remains intact. Investor commentary highlights Lumentum’s transformation from a cyclical smartphone laser supplier into a key provider of optical technology for AI infrastructure. Its recent earnings growth and stronger order book support the longer-term bullish thesis, although the article does not provide a new near-term catalyst. The Long-Term Investment Case for Lumentum Neutral Sentiment: Sector sentiment is deteriorating. Optical suppliers, including Lumentum, Coherent, and Applied Optoelectronics, are falling together as money rotates toward defensive sectors and investors question how quickly AI data-center projects will be funded. This appears to be a valuation and sentiment-driven pullback across the group. Optical Stocks Extend Slide as Money Rotates Into Defensives Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded LITE from Strong Buy to Hold. The less bullish recommendation is weighing on the stock, particularly after its substantial rally and amid broader concerns about AI infrastructure spending. Zacks downgrades Lumentum to Hold Insider Buying and Selling at Lumentum In other Lumentum news, SVP Jae Kim sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.58, for a total value of $10,230,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 37,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,230,934.32. This trade represents a 24.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Yuen Wupen sold 1,500 shares of Lumentum stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $827.82, for a total value of $1,241,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 100,434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,141,273.88. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 94,496 shares of company stock worth $85,978,498 over the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Lumentum Price Performance LITE stock opened at $869.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.58 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $932.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $876.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Lumentum Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $152.54 and a 12-month high of $1,143.00.
Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The technology company reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $987.70 million. Lumentum had a negative net margin of 230.15% and a positive return on equity of 26.34%. Lumentum’s revenue for the quarter was up 109.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Lumentum has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 4.050-4.350 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 19.79 earnings per share for the current year.
Lumentum Company Profile (Free Report)
Lumentum Holdings Inc is a photonics and optical technology company that develops and manufactures products used to transmit, process and manage light. Its solutions support communications networks, data centers, cloud computing infrastructure, industrial applications, and other technology markets that rely on high-speed optical connectivity and precision lasers.
The company’s product portfolio includes optical components and modules for telecommunications and networking, lasers and laser systems, optical amplifiers, wavelength-management products, and photonic subsystems.
Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Lumentum ASML Can’t Keep Up With AI Demand—Why That’s a Good Thing Enovix’s 100,000-Battery Drone Order Sets Up a Test of Its Production Plans AMD’s Support Could Help Fermi Stock Overcome Its Biggest Hurdle Beyond the GPU: Credo Paves the Next AI Data Superhighway Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LITE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report).
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Lumentum spent years as a forgotten laser supplier riding smartphone cycles before something shifted in its order book and turned patient holders into unlikely winners. The catch is how long that patience actually had to last.
From Face ID Lasers to AI Data Center Plumbing
Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE | LITE Price Prediction) makes lasers and optical parts that move data as light instead of electricity. It was spun off from JDS Uniphase in August 2015. For years its best-known product was the VCSEL chip behind Face ID 3D sensing for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), and it also sold telecom lasers. Results swung with smartphone cycles and carrier spending, so this was a cyclical mid-cap component supplier.
AI changed who buys from Lumentum. Hyperscalers building giant compute clusters started replacing copper with optical links. That turned Lumentum into a key supplier of laser chips, cloud transceivers and optical circuit switches (OCS). The Cloud Light acquisition gave it more transceiver capacity. Fiscal 2026 revenue reached $3.014B, up 83.22%, and fourth-quarter revenue hit $1.01 billion, up 109% year over year.
Your $1,000 Became $22,715, and Most of It Came Late
1-Year Return
Initial Investment: $1,000
Current Value: $5,725.40
Total Return: 472.54%
S&P 500 (same period): $1,162.80 (16.28%)
5-Year Return
Initial Investment: $1,000
Current Value: $10,640.90
Total Return: 964.09%
Annualized Return: 60.47%
S&P 500 (same period): $1,742.40 (74.24%)
10-Year Return
Initial Investment: $1,000
Current Value: $22,714.90
Total Return: 2171.49%
Annualized Return: 36.66%
S&P 500 (same period): $3,617.60 (261.76%)
Lumentum outperformed the index over all three periods, and most of the gain arrived recently. Shares cost $86.39 in October 2021 and only $160.56 four years later. Most of the decade’s gain came in the last twelve months, when the AI expansion reached Lumentum’s order book. A decade-long holder needed years of patience before the return showed up.
The swings are still large. The 52-week range runs from $152.54 to $1,143. Shares are down 18.89% over the past week after optical stocks sold off Monday, and they’re off 6.96% today. Lumentum doesn’t pay a dividend, so every dollar of that outcome came from price.
What Could Drive Lumentum’s Next Move
The upside thesis rests on the 1.6T, OCS and co-packaged optics ramps continuing to run ahead of plan. Management guided fiscal first-quarter revenue to $1.225B-$1.275B and non-GAAP EPS to $4.05-$4.35. It also has a multi-hundred-million-dollar CPO order deliverable 1H calendar 2027. Management estimates its share of pump lasers at 70, 80%, and says it is still sold out. Lumentum is one of a handful of suppliers quietly supporting the data-center expansion, and we covered seven of them, from optics to power to cooling, in a free AI infrastructure report.
The main risk here is a pause in hyperscaler spending or big customers pushing orders out. The stock trades at 43 times forward earnings and 29.92 times sales. Fourth-quarter GAAP results included a $7.2 billion net loss, driven by a $7.8 billion non-cash charge. Export controls and Chinese indium phosphide fabs add competitive risk.
My view: the decade shows that a cyclical component supplier can pay off enormously, but only for holders who sit through long flat periods and sharp falls. Investors researching the stock should consider that history against volatility like this week’s selloff.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
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Stock to Watch: Lumentum (LITE - Free Report) Lumentum Holdings Inc. is a provider of optical and photonic products serving cloud, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), telecommunications, consumer and industrial end markets. The company’s portfolio spans semiconductor laser chips and sub-assemblies, wavelength management systems, optical modules, optical circuit switches and industrial lasers used in precision materials processing. Its technologies enable high-capacity optical links for intra-data center, data center interconnect, long-haul and submarine networks, and support enterprise networking across SANs, LANs and WANs. Industrial laser products are used in semiconductor and microelectronics fabrication, electric vehicle and battery production, metal cutting and welding, and other advanced manufacturing.
LITE is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of B.
Momentum investors should take note of this Computer and Technology stock. LITE has a Momentum Style Score of A, and shares are up 19.2% over the past four weeks.
One analyst revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2027. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.13 to $21.40 per share. LITE boasts an average earnings surprise of +9.8%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Momentum and VGM Style Scores, LITE should be on investors' short list.
Lumentum's backlog just crossed a landmark threshold, demand is outrunning supply, and the stock is down nearly 10% from its recent peak. Whether that selloff is a buying window or a warning depends on one question the company has not…
Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE | LITE Price Prediction) trades at $995.41. It has an optical circuit switch (OCS) backlog that management put “well beyond $400 million”, and AI demand is running ahead of what the company can supply. Monday’s selloff in optical stocks pulled the shares lower after an extended run.
Lumentum makes lasers, transceivers and optical switches that move data inside and between hyperscale AI data centers. It reports two segments, Components and Systems. The stock has gained 565.34% over the past year. It fell 9.78% Monday alongside Ciena (NYSE:CIEN): Ciena, Lumentum and other optical stocks ranked among the market’s biggest losers.
Record Guidance and Sold-Out Lasers Fuel the Bull Case Fiscal Q4 revenue came in at $1.006 billion, up 109.3% from a year earlier. Non-GAAP EPS of $3.23 beat the $2.97 consensus, making it the company’s fourth straight beat. Non-GAAP gross margin reached 50.4%, a level management had originally expected to hit only at a $2 billion quarterly run rate. Q1 guidance calls for $1.225 billion to $1.275 billion in revenue and a 39.5% to 40.5% non-GAAP operating margin.
Catalysts include a multi-hundred-million-dollar co-packaged optics (CPO) order due for delivery in 1H calendar 2027. Management calls Lumentum “really the only merchant supplier today of OCS”. It also estimates its pump-laser share at 70% to 80%. Analysts have raised the fiscal 2027 EPS consensus to $21.781 from $18.137 90 days ago.
A 170% Year-to-Date Surge Leaves Little Room for Error At 33 times trailing sales and 115 times EV-to-EBITDA, the stock is priced for flawless execution. GAAP results muddy the picture: Lumentum reported a Q4 net loss of $7.16 billion, a gap with its non-GAAP profits that skeptics will dig into.
Supply is the other worry. Management admits it is “way behind our shipments” on high-power lasers. It also depends on limited indium phosphide substrate and faces new competition from Chinese fabs. CPO and near-packaged optics (NPO) volumes are not expected until 2027 and 2028, which leaves plenty of time for customer delays or cuts to hyperscaler spending (we covered seven suppliers riding that same data-center expansion, from power to optical infrastructure, in a free report you can grab here).
Delivery Proof Will Decide How Far the Backlog Story Runs Turning the backlog into revenue depends on capacity Lumentum is still building. Its Greensboro fab is not expected to produce revenue until early 2028. The stock’s 8.82% weekly drop shows how fast sentiment can turn. If Q1 lands near the midpoint, the upside argument gets stronger. A margin slip would weaken it.
Wall Street Targets Point to Nearly 17% Upside The consensus target of $1,161.96 means about 16.7% upside from $995.41. Price targets can shift quickly as estimates change. Lumentum is worth about $90.17 billion. The ratings summary:
Strong Buy: 5 Buy: 18 Hold: 4 Sell: 0 Year to date, the stock is up 170.06%, while the S&P 500 is up 14.1%. It trades at a forward P/E of 43 and about 28 times fiscal 2028 consensus EPS of $35.5659.
Milestones That Could Reprice Lumentum After the Selloff At $995.41, Lumentum still has a premium valuation.
Several clear milestones mark the way forward. The first is the fiscal Q1 report, guided at $4.05 to $4.35 in EPS. Next comes CPO order delivery, followed by OCS leadership. Management expects to become the number one OCS supplier “sometime in early 27”.
The pullback from the $1,143 52-week high has cut some of the premium. If estimates hold, the multiple on 2028 earnings looks modest for a company growing revenue at triple digits.
The story falls apart if orders get canceled, supply limits cap shipments for longer, or gross margin falls back below 50%. Investors should track OCS revenue and pricing each quarter.
Demand is outpacing supply, which keeps capacity execution at the center of the story.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of LITE either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Shares of optical leader Lumentum (LITE -9.78%) sank on Monday, falling 9.8%.
Lumentum has been a key beneficiary of the AI build-out, as optical lasers are increasingly important for achieving the speeds required for AI training and inference. Last week, Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston said in a Bloomberg interview that the company was "almost sold out" for 2029, sending shares to an all-time high.
However, concerns over the sustainability of the AI boom came to the fore over the weekend when another AI company CEO said many investors are treating it like a "casino."
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Broadcom CEO Hock Tan curbs AI enthusiasm
Over the weekend, Broadcom (AVGO -1.88%) CEO Hock Tan spoke at an industry conference in Singapore. At that conference, he said many investors don't really know what they are investing in, and that they, "set very extreme expectations only to find out that it's almost like they are in a casino."
Tan went on to note that while leading AI companies, such as OpenAI, are generating significant revenue at the moment, it remains unclear whether they will have a sustainable, profitable business model that justifies the enormous amount of current AI spending. He noted that enterprises are using many AI tokens, but mostly in an experimental manner that isn't necessarily economical in the long run:
When you are a kid, you go to a video arcade and play. Your parents give you $10 of tokens, you finish it in 10 minutes and you haven't learned anything... That's what happening in enterprises today."
Those comments appeared to generate a big pullback in the main AI infrastructure stocks on Monday. Given that Lumentum has been one of the big winners, surging to all-time highs last week, it's no wonder its stock is down even more than other chip stocks today.
Image source: Getty Images.
Lumentum's bull case remains as long as the AI story remains as well
Optical laser stocks have rallied so much this year because the network requirements of AI usage are spurring not only an increase in the number of data centers, and communications between those data centers, but also the replacement of copper wiring by optical connections within server racks and even servers themselves.
This compounding growth is why optical stocks remain attractive; however, this depends on the overall health and need for AI data centers. Hock Tan threw some cold water on the growth thesis over the weekend, but his statements were far from declaring the AI build-out a "bubble" that will inevitably burst. The bull case could remain intact, as long as end users eventually get value from the technology, and sustainable AI business models are developed.
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LITE), Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALAB), and Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) today announced a joint demonstration of PCIe-over-optics connectivity for AI rack-scale architectures at the 2026 OCP Global Summit in San Jose, California. The rack-level demonstration combines an Astera Labs Scorpio Smart Fabric Switch with Lumentum's 1060 nm VCSEL-based optical interconnect platform and Corning multimode fiber connectivity. The demo.
CoreCap Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report) by 50.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 803 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 818 shares during the quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lumentum were worth $780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LITE. Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in Lumentum during the 3rd quarter valued at about $60,158,000. Apella Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 625 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lumentum in the 3rd quarter valued at about $287,000. Red Spruce Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 3,200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,108,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lumentum by 79.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. now owns 649 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $630,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.05% of the company’s stock.
Lumentum Price Performance Shares of LITE opened at $1,103.35 on Friday. Lumentum Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $147.81 and a twelve month high of $1,143.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $923.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $869.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.94 billion, a PE ratio of -13.42 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.
Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The technology company reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $987.70 million. Lumentum had a positive return on equity of 26.34% and a negative net margin of 230.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 109.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Lumentum has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 4.050-4.350 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 19.78 earnings per share for the current year. Insider Buying and Selling In other Lumentum news, CFO Wajid Ali sold 24,542 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,048.50, for a total value of $25,732,287.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 75,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,715,089. This represents a 24.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Yuen Wupen sold 307 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $945.00, for a total value of $290,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 108,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,362,400. This trade represents a 0.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 94,496 shares of company stock worth $85,978,498. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LITE. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Lumentum from $1,100.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,040.00 price objective on shares of Lumentum in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Lumentum from $1,165.00 to $1,280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. UBS Group set a $820.00 price objective on shares of Lumentum in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,300.00 target price on shares of Lumentum in a report on Monday, October 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lumentum presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,078.75.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Lumentum
Key Lumentum News Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:
Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure demand is outpacing Lumentum’s manufacturing capacity, with shortages for certain optical products potentially lasting through 2028. The supply-demand imbalance supports strong order visibility, pricing power and elevated margins. Lumentum Can’t Keep Up With AI Demand—and Its Stock Is Surging Positive Sentiment: Management’s outlook suggests a multiyear growth opportunity as AI data centers shift from copper to high-speed optical networking. One analysis said Lumentum may be unable to meet about 70% of demand for some products through next year and highlighted management’s target of $40 in adjusted EPS by fiscal 2028. Lumentum: At The Point Of A Potential Upside Breakout Positive Sentiment: Analyst and market commentary characterized LITE as having a multiyear runway for growth, while Zacks added the stock to its Rank #1 Strong Buy list. The demand signal also lifted sentiment toward other optical-networking companies. Evercore ISI: LITE has a multiyear runway for growth ahead Neutral Sentiment: The bullish demand outlook follows a period of substantial gains and elevated investor expectations. Lumentum’s opportunity depends on expanding production successfully and converting its backlog into cash flow and earnings. Negative Sentiment: Optical stocks experienced broad profit-taking and sector-wide selling recently, underscoring valuation and execution risks after their sharp advances. Investors may also remain cautious about whether current AI demand can justify LITE’s high valuation. Optics Stocks Tumble as Profit Taking Cuts Into Big Yearly Gains Lumentum Company Profile (Free Report)
Lumentum Holdings Inc is a photonics and optical technology company that develops and manufactures products used to transmit, process and manage light. Its solutions support communications networks, data centers, cloud computing infrastructure, industrial applications, and other technology markets that rely on high-speed optical connectivity and precision lasers.
The company’s product portfolio includes optical components and modules for telecommunications and networking, lasers and laser systems, optical amplifiers, wavelength-management products, and photonic subsystems.
Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Lumentum 3 Unique ETFs With Strong Momentum for the End of the Year 3 Beaten-Down Biotech Stocks With Triple-Digit Upside and Big Catalysts Ahead Schneider Just Paid Up for PTC—Is the SaaSpocalypse Overdone? Delta Air Lines Faces a Fuel Crisis—But There’s a Silver Lining Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LITE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report).
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SummaryLumentum Holdings demonstrates accelerating revenue growth and margin expansion, driven by premium product offerings and operational efficiencies.LITE's Systems segment is outpacing Components, with key drivers including OCS solutions, 1.6T transceivers, and high-power lasers for CPO/NPO architectures.Gross margin reached 50% at $1B revenue—well ahead of previous targets—supported by scale, high manufacturing yields, and pricing power in a duopoly market.I maintain a BUY rating, citing strong growth catalysts from CPO/NPO, expanding optical TAM, and margin momentum despite elevated valuation and customer concentration risks. EschCollection/DigitalVision via Getty Images
Investment Thesis Since my last article about Lumentum Holdings (LITE), in which I detailed the company’s products and business lines, the stock price is up 15%. I pointed out that LITE has two growth cycles.
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, but may initiate a beneficial Long position through a purchase of the stock, or the purchase of call options or similar derivatives in LITE over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ:LITE) shares rose over 4% on Friday morning after the optical technology supplier warned that strong demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers had effectively booked its production capacity through early 2029.
CEO Michael Hurlston told Bloomberg Television in Tokyo that demand for optical and laser components used in high-speed data transmission continued to outstrip the company’s ability to increase manufacturing output.
Lumentum supplies optoelectronic products that help transfer data within and between data centers, making its technology increasingly important as technology companies expand infrastructure for AI computing.
Hurlston said the company expected to be unable to meet about 70% of demand for certain products through next year, while shortages in other product categories could persist through 2028, highlighting the scale of the supply constraints.
The latest outlook extends the period of limited capacity beyond the company’s previous expectation of selling out production through 2028, indicating that customer demand has continued to strengthen.
Lumentum is investing in additional manufacturing capacity, including a fabrication facility in Greensboro, North Carolina, and expanded production capabilities at a facility in Japan.
However, increasing output takes time, leaving the company unable to satisfy all customer requirements in the near term despite its expansion plans.
The demand surge reflects growing requirements for faster data transmission and greater network bandwidth as technology companies build larger AI systems, which require extensive connections between processors and computing infrastructure.
Lumentum’s comments underline the supply pressures facing manufacturers of specialized components used in AI infrastructure, where spending on data centers is creating demand that exceeds available production capacity.
Optical component makers just received a demand signal so strong it reversed weeks of profit-taking in a single morning session, and the company behind it says its order book now stretches years into the future.
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Optical component makers are staging a sharp rebound after a sold-out demand signal from Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ:LITE | LITE Price Prediction) spread across the group. Lumentum stock is at $1,117.71, up 7% in morning trading. The rally lands on a corner of the market that had cooled after a powerful run over the year.
Likewise, Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) stock is at $113.32, up 7%, keeping pace with Lumentum stock. Additionally, Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) stock is at $316.68, up 5%, a smaller gain than the other two names.
A broader read comes from the Roundhill Photonics & Optics ETF (CBOE:LYTE), which holds all three companies and is up 3%. By comparison, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 0.36%. That gap points to buying concentrated in optical names while the broad market edges only slightly higher.
Sold-Out Capacity Reverses the Optical Pullback Optical components are completely sold out through early 2029. Lumentum’s chief executive said the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) data center demand are running ahead of what suppliers can build. The statement reached the market overnight and lifted optical component makers as a group. Before the comment, the group had slipped on profit taking that cut into large gains built up over the year, and this rally turns back that decline.
Behind the demand is a secular shift inside hyperscale data centers from copper wiring to optical interconnects. Supply is tight across high-speed transceivers, co-packaged optics lasers and optical circuit switches, reinforcing pricing power for suppliers that can deliver. The same expansion is lifting power, cooling and networking vendors most investors overlook, which we profiled in a free report on seven AI infrastructure suppliers that aren’t chipmakers.
Three Business Models With Very Different Sensitivities Lumentum makes lasers, modules and optical subsystems across two product segments, Components and Systems. The company sells into cloud and data center customers alongside telecom, industrial and sensing markets, which spreads its business across several spending cycles, and for bulls, Lumentum’s demand book now reaches years out, turning an order cycle into revenue visibility well past the next quarter.
Applied Optoelectronics designs and builds optical transceivers in its own plants on a smaller product set, so its results track production yields, volume and pricing more directly. That tight focus makes Applied Optoelectronics stock the most sensitive of the three to any shift in tone.
Coherent sits between those two, with broader end markets that mute moves in both directions, and that breadth offers less upside on a pure demand headline but more buffer if sentiment toward optical names cools again.
What to Watch Next The focus now is on whether Lumentum’s next quarterly update shows pricing holding firm as suppliers race to add capacity, and whether Applied Optoelectronics can lift its production yields fast enough to turn the demand signal into shipped volume.
The Roundhill LYTE ETF’s most recent fact sheet lists Lumentum and Coherent as its two largest holdings, with Applied Optoelectronics at a much smaller weight. That mix leans the fund toward the two larger names and away from the most volatile of the three. Several China-based optical suppliers also sit in the fund, adding exposure beyond the three featured names.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Shares of Lumentum Holdings LITE rose 6% in pre-market trading on Friday after Chief Executive Officer Michael Hurlston said demand for the company’s optical components had exceeded available supply, with orders booked through early 2029.
The company is struggling to keep pace with demand from technology firms expanding artificial intelligence data centres.
Hurlston told Bloomberg News in an interview in Tokyo that Lumentum was unable to meet a significant portion of customer demand and was working to expand production capacity.
Hurlston said Lumentum’s optical components were “completely sold out” through early 2029, adding that customers were already beginning to secure orders for 2030.
The company cannot meet around 70% of demand for some products through next year and expects to fall short of 30% of demand for certain other products through 2028, he said.
Lumentum supplies advanced indium phosphide devices used in high-speed data transmission and cloud computing.
Its technology is becoming increasingly important as AI workloads require faster connections between servers, data centre racks and computing systems.
The company’s products include lasers that encode data onto light near chips, reducing the distance that high-speed electrical signals need to travel.
Optical connections can also reduce power consumption and heat generation compared with conventional copper-based interconnects.
Hurlston said the opportunity could expand significantly as optical technologies move closer to AI accelerators.
Demand for lasers in next-generation AI systems is expected to gain traction around 2029, he added.
Lumentum received a $2 billion investment from Nvidia earlier this year, alongside a similar investment in rival Coherent.
The funding highlights the growing importance of optical technologies to AI infrastructure.
To meet demand, Lumentum has increased capacity at its Sagamihara facility in Japan twelvefold over the past two years.
The company plans to invest at least $350 million in the site and a neighbouring facility, with $75 million deployed so far. It has also expanded capacity at its plant in Caswell, England.
Hurlston said Lumentum was considering purchasing a facility in Japan and could seek subsidies to support further expansion.
The company may also need to consider an acquisition over the next year to broaden its product range.
However, increasing manufacturing capacity takes time.
Hurlston said building new production facilities typically requires three to five years.
He added that hyperscalers were willing to provide funding commitments that could help suppliers manage some of the risks associated with rapid expansion.
Lumentum and other optical component makers have benefited from the broader AI infrastructure investment boom, although concerns about rising costs, debt and competition have made some investors more cautious.
The company’s shares have gained 171% year to date. Coherent shares have risen 55%, while Applied Optoelectronics has advanced 66%.
Analyst sentiment on Lumentum remains positive overall. According to TipRanks data, 14 of 18 analysts covering Lumentum rate it a Buy, while the remaining four rate it a Hold.
Supply constraints could also affect the sector if the US restricts new Chinese optical transceiver models.
Chinese manufacturers account for roughly two-thirds of global high-speed AI optical transceiver supply, according to Counterpoint Research.
Hurlston said the US would need to balance national security concerns against the risk of disrupting supply chains.
Meanwhile, Lumentum faces the challenge of expanding production quickly enough to serve customers as demand for AI infrastructure continues to grow.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of LITE, CRDO, GOOG, NVDA either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) has cleared the ceiling that held the stock in check for nearly five months. Traders now want to know whether the old ceiling becomes the support.
LITE stock is moving. See the real-time price action here. Five Months in a BoxThe optical-components maker hit an intraday high of $1,085.68 on May 12. Shares then slid to a July 29 low of $594.84 and spent late summer rebuilding.
The breakout came this month. Lumentum shares jumped 7.7% on Oct. 1 alone and closed at a record $1,133.40 on Tuesday. A year earlier the stock closed at $160.60, for a 12-month gain of about 606%, per Benzinga Pro data.
Two Chartists, One LineTwo CNBC contributors flagged the setup in advance. In a Sept. 24 column, Josh Brown of Ritholtz Wealth Management wrote about Lumentum.
“A close above $1,085 opens up new ground on this chart.” He said he would prefer “to enter above $1000 if I’m trading it, and hold for the breakout above the May high.”
Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, picked up the thread on Tuesday.
“We have a clear breakout from a consolidation area going back to April,” he wrote for CNBC. Woods sees upside to $1,200 and named $1,000 as downside risk, adding that “the old ceiling should become the new floor.”
Read Next
Watch $1,000The math cuts both ways. A move to $1,200 is about 5.9% above Tuesday’s close. A pullback to $1,000 would be roughly an 11.8% decline.
Momentum is getting stretched. Woods wrote that the daily relative strength index had just crossed 60. The 14-day RSI is now 66.16, per Benzinga Pro data, nearing the usual overbought line. Woods argued the five-year weekly chart shows “shares of LITE may remain overbought and trend higher for months.”
Fundamentals Behind the ChartAI networking demand is driving the rally. Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) agreed in March to invest $2 billion in Lumentum as part of a broader photonics push,.
Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue rose 109% year over year to $1.01 billion, and management guided the current quarter to $1.23 billion-$1.28 billion. The Street had expected about $1.15 billion.
In an August CNBC interview, Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston called the demand signal from hyperscalers “incredible."
A hold above $1,000 keeps the breakout intact. A drop back below the May high would suggest buyers ran too far, too fast.
LITE Stock Price Activity: Lumentum stock was down 2.35% at $1106.73 at the time of publication Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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Photo: Shutterstock
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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Lumentum Holdings, Inc. (LITE) shares gain 2,948% since 2016’s first outlier inflow signal.
LITE designs and manufactures optical and photonic products for cloud computing, optical networking, and laser applications, with its products being key parts of data centers, telecom, and enterprise networks worldwide. The company’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 report showed a record $1.01 billion in quarterly revenue (a 109% year-over-year gain), non-GAAP net income of $326.3 million or $3.23 per share (a 267% gain), as well as first-quarter 2027 revenue and EPS guidance of up to $1.275 billion and $4.35, respectively.
No wonder LITE shares are up 207% so far this year – and they could rise more. MoneyFlows data shows how Big Money investors are again betting heavily on the stock.
Lumentum Remains an Institutional Favorite Institutional volumes reveal plenty. In the last year, LITE has enjoyed strong investor demand, which we believe to be institutional support.
Each green bar signals unusually large volumes in LITE shares. They reflect our proprietary inflow signal, pushing the stock higher:
LITE shares are up an astonishing 606% in a year on the back of strong institutional buying. Source: www.moneyflows.com Plenty of technology names are under accumulation right now. But there’s a powerful fundamental story happening with Lumentum.
Lumentum Fundamental Analysis Institutional support and a healthy fundamental backdrop make this company worth investigating. As you can see, LITE has had strong sales growth:
Also, EPS is estimated to ramp higher this year by +58.9%.
Now it makes sense why the stock has been generating Big Money interest. LITE has a track record of strong financial performance.
Marrying great fundamentals with MoneyFlows software has found some big winning stocks over the long term.
Lumentum recently became a top-rated stock at MoneyFlows. That means the stock has unusual buy pressure and growing fundamentals. We have a ranking process that showcases stocks like this on a weekly basis.
The stock has drawn eight Big Money outlier inflow signals since 2016, rising 2,948% since the first one. The blue bar below shows when LITE was an institutional target…the buying continues:
LITE shares have attracted eight institutional outlier inflow signals since 2016, including recently, rising 2,948% in that time. Source: www.moneyflows.com Tracking unusual volumes reveals the power of money flows.
This is a trait that most outlier stocks exhibit…the best of the best. Big Money demand drives stocks upward.
Lumentum Price Prediction The LITE action isn’t new at all. Big Money buying in the shares is signaling to take notice. Given the historical gains in share price and strong fundamentals, this stock could be worth a spot in a diversified portfolio.
Disclosure: the author holds no position in LITE at the time of publication.
If you are a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) or a serious investor, take your investing to the next level. MoneyFlows created 11 Frontiers indexes to help serious investors capture AI-driven themes and learn the leading stocks in each Frontier. Get started here.
Optical Cable (NASDAQ:OCC – Get Free Report) and Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.
Volatility and Risk Optical Cable has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lumentum has a beta of 1.53, suggesting that its share price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Optical Cable and Lumentum, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Optical Cable 0 2 0 0 2.00 Lumentum 1 5 16 1 2.74 Lumentum has a consensus target price of $1,078.75, indicating a potential downside of 4.82%. Given Lumentum’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lumentum is more favorable than Optical Cable. Institutional & Insider Ownership 13.6% of Optical Cable shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.1% of Lumentum shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.4% of Optical Cable shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Lumentum shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability This table compares Optical Cable and Lumentum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Optical Cable 3.10% 15.88% 6.17% Lumentum -230.15% 26.34% 10.25% Valuation & Earnings This table compares Optical Cable and Lumentum”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Optical Cable $73.04 million 2.02 -$1.46 million $0.29 57.69 Lumentum $3.01 billion 33.73 -$6.94 billion ($82.21) -13.79 Optical Cable has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Lumentum. Lumentum is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Optical Cable, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary Lumentum beats Optical Cable on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Optical Cable (Get Free Report)
Optical Cable Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of fiber optic and copper data communications cabling and connectivity solutions primarily for the enterprise market in the United States and internationally. The company provides fiber optic and hybrid cables for high bandwidth transmission of data, video, and voice communications; and copper datacom cables, including unshielded and shielded twisted pair constructions. Its fiber optic connectivity products include fiber optic wall mounts, cabinet mount and rack mount enclosures, pre-terminated fiber optic enclosures, fiber optic connectors, splice trays, fiber optic jumpers, plug and play cassette modules, pre-terminated fiber optic cable assemblies, adapters, and accessories; and copper connectivity products comprising category compliant patch panels, jacks, plugs, patch cords, faceplates, surface mounted boxes, distribution and multi-media boxes, copper rack mount and wall mount enclosures, cable assemblies, cable organizers, and other wiring products for equipment rooms, telecommunications closets, data centers, and workstation applications. In addition, the company offers network, data storage, and telecommunications management systems, such as data cabinets, wall mount enclosures, horizontal and vertical cable management systems, and open frame relay racks; and datacom wiring products, including various enclosures, and modules and modular outlets for single dwelling and multiple dwelling residential uses. Further, it provides specialty fiber optic connectors and connectivity components, copper datacom connectors, and related systems and solutions for military, other harsh environment, and special applications, as well as cylindrical connector products. The company sells its products to distributors, original equipment manufacturers, value-added resellers, and end-users. Optical Cable Corporation was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia.
About Lumentum (Get Free Report)
Lumentum Holdings Inc. manufactures and sells optical and photonic products in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company operates through two segments: Optical Communications (OpComms) and Commercial Lasers (Lasers). The OpComms segment offers components, modules, and subsystems that enable the transmission and transport of video, audio, and data over high-capacity fiber optic cables. It offers tunable transponders, transceivers, and transmitter modules; tunable lasers, receivers, and modulators; transport products, such as reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers, amplifiers, and optical channel monitors, as well as components, including 980nm, multi-mode, and Raman pumps; and switches, attenuators, photodetectors, gain flattening filters, isolators, wavelength-division multiplexing filters, arrayed waveguide gratings, multiplex/de-multiplexers, and integrated passive modules. This segment also provides Super Transport Blade, which integrates optical transport functions into a single-slot blade; vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers; directly modulated and electro-absorption modulated lasers; and laser illumination sources for 3D sensing systems. It serves customers in telecommunications, data communications, and consumer and industrial markets. The Commercial Lasers segment offers diode-pumped solid-state, fiber, diode, direct-diode, and gas lasers, such as argon-ion and helium-neon lasers for use in original equipment manufacturer applications. It serves customers in markets and applications, such as sheet metal processing, general manufacturing, biotechnology, solar cell processing, graphics and imaging, remote sensing, and precision machining. Lumentum Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
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Shares of Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, sixteen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $1,078.75.
LITE has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group set a $820.00 price objective on Lumentum in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Evercore began coverage on Lumentum in a research note on Monday, August 31st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,100.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Lumentum from $1,100.00 to $1,232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,300.00 price target on shares of Lumentum in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Lumentum from $1,200.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on LITE
Lumentum Price Performance Lumentum stock opened at $1,133.40 on Wednesday. Lumentum has a 52-week low of $147.81 and a 52-week high of $1,137.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $898.61 and a 200-day moving average of $863.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.79 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The technology company reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.26. Lumentum had a negative net margin of 230.15% and a positive return on equity of 26.34%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $987.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 109.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Lumentum has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 4.050-4.350 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Lumentum will post 19.78 EPS for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Lumentum In other news, SVP Jae Kim sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.58, for a total value of $10,230,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 37,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,230,934.32. This represents a 24.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vincent Retort sold 38,663 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.59, for a total transaction of $32,963,687.17. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 78,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,877,159.60. The trade was a 33.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 94,496 shares of company stock valued at $85,978,498. 0.43% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Trading of Lumentum Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new position in Lumentum in the first quarter worth $2,046,000. Styrax Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 3.6% during the first quarter. Styrax Capital LP now owns 140,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $98,386,000 after purchasing an additional 4,837 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Lumentum by 21,806.5% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 74,044 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,183,000 after buying an additional 73,706 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 47.2% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 208,015 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $146,185,000 after buying an additional 66,700 shares during the period. Finally, Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lumentum in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,201,000. 94.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Key Headlines Impacting Lumentum Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:
Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain bullish: Rosenblatt reaffirmed a Buy rating with a $1,300 price target, while Stifel raised its target to $1,232 from $1,100 and maintained a Buy rating. These targets imply additional upside and reinforce optimism surrounding Lumentum’s growth outlook. Lumentum Given Buy Rating at Rosenblatt Securities Positive Sentiment: Strong operating momentum: Lumentum recently reported quarterly revenue of approximately $1.01 billion, up 109.3% year over year, and earnings above analyst expectations. Its fiscal first-quarter 2027 EPS guidance of $4.05 to $4.35 further supports the bullish narrative. Lumentum Stock Draws Higher Targets After Revenue Doubles Positive Sentiment: Institutional demand is substantial: JPMorgan, Invesco, BlackRock and other large investors increased their Lumentum holdings in the latest reporting period, signaling continued institutional interest in the optical-components and AI infrastructure story. Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming earnings are a near-term catalyst: Lumentum has announced the reporting date for its fiscal first-quarter 2027 results. Investors will look for evidence that AI-driven demand and recent revenue growth are sustainable. Lumentum Announces Reporting Date for Fiscal First Quarter 2027 Results Neutral Sentiment: Technical momentum is strong: The stock has reached new highs and cleared a reported buy point, although commentary also identifies resistance levels that could lead to volatility if the rally pauses. Lumentum Hits Buy Point and New High Negative Sentiment: Insider selling remains a risk signal: Company insiders reported 77 open-market sales and no purchases over the past six months, including sales by senior executives. Additionally, the estimated 2026 CEO compensation declined sharply, though the compensation figure itself is not a direct earnings impact. Negative Sentiment: Valuation expectations are demanding: The reported median analyst price target of $1,040 is below the current trading level, suggesting some analysts see limited near-term upside after the stock’s substantial rally. About Lumentum (Get Free Report)
Lumentum Holdings Inc is a photonics and optical technology company that develops and manufactures products used to transmit, process and manage light. Its solutions support communications networks, data centers, cloud computing infrastructure, industrial applications, and other technology markets that rely on high-speed optical connectivity and precision lasers.
The company’s product portfolio includes optical components and modules for telecommunications and networking, lasers and laser systems, optical amplifiers, wavelength-management products, and photonic subsystems.
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Clearing known share supply can lift a stock quickly. Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) is showing how after completing its $600 million at-the-market equity program. Applied Optoelectronics stock is at $128.95, up 6% in morning trading. This jump stands out because the…
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Clearing known share supply can lift a stock quickly. Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) is showing how after completing its $600 million at-the-market equity program. Applied Optoelectronics stock is at $128.95, up 6% in morning trading. This jump stands out because the rest of the optics group is barely moving.
Meanwhile, Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ:LITE | LITE Price Prediction) stock is at $1,095.67, up 0.4%, effectively sitting out the rally. Corning (NYSE:GLW) rounds out the group as the glass and fiber maker.
As a gauge of the wider optics group, the Roundhill Photonics & Optics ETF (CBOE:LYTE) is up 0.42%. For broad-market context, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 0.43%, leaving the two funds essentially level with each other. That pairing marks the move in Applied Optoelectronics stock as a company-specific adjustment.
Third Share Sale Program of the Year Wraps Up Applied Optoelectronics announced on Monday the completion of its previously disclosed $600 million at-the-market equity offering program, under which the company sold shares into the open market over time. Founder, president and chief executive Thompson Lin stated that the completion marks the third such program this year and improves the balance sheet of Applied Optoelectronics. Lin added that the program supports the company’s ability to address growing demand for high-speed optical connectivity in AI data centers.
Business Models Explain the Split Applied Optoelectronics makes its own optical components and transceivers. It serves AI data center, cable broadband, telecom and fiber-to-the-home customers, with production in Texas, Taiwan and China. That ties output to how fast the company can fund and build capacity, which is why an equity program matters more here than at a larger peer.
Lumentum supplies lasers and optical components at far greater scale, so its growth question centers on order volume, while Corning sits upstream of both as a fiber and glass maker, with exposure to the same data center expansion through a more diversified business.
Roundhill’s fund construction broadens the gap further. The Roundhill fund’s August 6 fact sheet listed Lumentum as its largest holding at 15.4% of net assets, while Applied Optoelectronics carried a 2.1% weight. Such a small slice helps explain why the photonics fund is tracking the S&P 500 even as Applied Optoelectronics stock is soaring.
Dilution Outlasts the Selling Pressure Completing an at-the-market program removes a known supply of new shares, and the reaction suggests investors saw that drag as the main weight on Applied Optoelectronics stock. The dilution is permanent, while the selling pressure has stopped.
A third equity program in one year is a reminder that Applied Optoelectronics funds its expansion by issuing shares. Both optics names have run hard already, with Applied Optoelectronics stock up 270% year to date and Lumentum stock up 197% over the same stretch. On the bullish side, the fresh capital gives Applied Optoelectronics funding for production equipment aimed at AI connectivity demand.
What to Watch Next For Applied Optoelectronics, the key uncertainty is whether funded capacity converts into orders before the next financing arrives. Shareholders may want to monitor any new equity program from the company, given that three have now been completed this year.
Lumentum and Corning offer a broader read on optics demand, and traders may watch whether both names follow Applied Optoelectronics stock higher. Investors weighing their exposure should adjust their holdings carefully given the 270% year-to-date run in Applied Optoelectronics stock and the dilution tied to each new equity program.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. lowered its stake in Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report) by 33.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,530 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 785 shares during the quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc.’s holdings in Lumentum were worth $1,486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LITE. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. purchased a new position in Lumentum in the first quarter worth about $2,046,000. Styrax Capital LP increased its position in shares of Lumentum by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Styrax Capital LP now owns 140,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $98,386,000 after purchasing an additional 4,837 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Lumentum by 21,806.5% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 74,044 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,183,000 after purchasing an additional 73,706 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Lumentum by 47.2% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 208,015 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $146,185,000 after purchasing an additional 66,700 shares during the period. Finally, Patton Fund Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lumentum in the first quarter worth approximately $5,201,000. Institutional investors own 94.05% of the company’s stock.
Key Headlines Impacting Lumentum Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:
Positive Sentiment: Analyst support strengthened. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its “buy” rating and set a $1,300 price target, while Stifel Nicolaus raised its target from $1,100 to $1,232 and also assigned a “buy” rating. The higher targets reinforce expectations for additional upside. Lumentum Given Buy Rating at Rosenblatt Securities Lumentum Stock Gets Price Target Bump from Stifel Nicolaus Positive Sentiment: AI-driven demand remains the main catalyst. Recent coverage highlights expanding demand for Lumentum’s optical products from AI infrastructure and cloud-computing buildouts. Nvidia-related developments are also being viewed as a potential catalyst for the company’s AI-optics business. Nvidia Gave Lumentum Stock a New AI Catalyst Automatic Data Processing vs. Lumentum Positive Sentiment: Operating momentum is strong. Lumentum recently reported quarterly revenue of $1.01 billion, up 109.3% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $3.23, exceeding analyst expectations. Management’s next-quarter EPS guidance of $4.05 to $4.35 further supports the bullish outlook. Lumentum Revenue Growth Report Neutral Sentiment: Technical and valuation debate. Analysts and market commentators see potential for the rally to continue, but the stock’s record-level valuation and proximity to major resistance could increase volatility or prompt profit-taking. Lumentum Stock Hits Crucial Resistance Lumentum AI Optics Valuation Debate Insider Buying and Selling In other news, insider Yuen Wupen sold 307 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $945.00, for a total transaction of $290,115.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 108,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,362,400. This represents a 0.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Wajid Ali sold 24,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,048.50, for a total value of $25,732,287.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 75,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,715,089. This represents a 24.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 94,496 shares of company stock worth $85,978,498. Corporate insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock. Lumentum Price Performance LITE traded up $3.31 during trading on Monday, hitting $1,088.73. 1,930,987 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,509,354. The company has a market cap of $97.66 billion, a PE ratio of -13.25 and a beta of 1.53. Lumentum Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.81 and a 1 year high of $1,124.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $881.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $857.35.
Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 11th. The technology company reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $987.70 million. Lumentum had a negative net margin of 230.15% and a positive return on equity of 26.34%. The business’s revenue was up 109.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Lumentum has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 4.050-4.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 19.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LITE shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,040.00 price target on shares of Lumentum in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Zacks Research raised Lumentum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Lumentum from $1,100.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,036.00 price target on shares of Lumentum in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Lumentum in a research note on Friday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,078.75.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Lumentum
Lumentum Profile (Free Report)
Lumentum Holdings Inc is a photonics and optical technology company that develops and manufactures products used to transmit, process and manage light. Its solutions support communications networks, data centers, cloud computing infrastructure, industrial applications, and other technology markets that rely on high-speed optical connectivity and precision lasers.
The company’s product portfolio includes optical components and modules for telecommunications and networking, lasers and laser systems, optical amplifiers, wavelength-management products, and photonic subsystems.
Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Lumentum A Manufacturing Surprise Could Be a Big Win for These 2 Companies What a $1 Billion Chip Deal Says About Amazon’s AI Ambitions 3 Stocks Benefiting From AI Demand Just Announced Major Buybacks Insiders Are Selling These 3 Stocks, Should You?
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Eastern Bank grew its stake in shares of Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report) by 12,875.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,546 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,326 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Lumentum were worth $27,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lumentum during the second quarter valued at $1,621,396,000. Aspex Management HK Ltd acquired a new stake in Lumentum during the 4th quarter worth about $251,363,000. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Lumentum during the 2nd quarter worth about $494,688,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Lumentum during the second quarter valued at about $376,539,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Lumentum by 188.7% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 658,427 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $564,970,000 after buying an additional 430,355 shares in the last quarter. 94.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Activity at Lumentum In other news, SVP Jae Kim sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.58, for a total transaction of $10,230,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 37,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,230,934.32. This represents a 24.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vincent Retort sold 38,663 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.59, for a total value of $32,963,687.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 78,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,877,159.60. This trade represents a 33.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 94,496 shares of company stock valued at $85,978,498. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $820.00 target price on shares of Lumentum in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Lumentum from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,036.00 target price on shares of Lumentum in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Lumentum from $800.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Lumentum from $1,200.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lumentum has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,078.75. Read Our Latest Stock Report on Lumentum
Lumentum Stock Up 0.4% NASDAQ LITE traded up $3.91 during trading on Monday, reaching $1,089.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,861,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,509,059. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.71 billion, a PE ratio of -13.24 and a beta of 1.53. Lumentum Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.81 and a 1-year high of $1,124.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $881.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $857.35.
Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The technology company reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.26. Lumentum had a negative net margin of 230.15% and a positive return on equity of 26.34%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $987.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Lumentum’s revenue for the quarter was up 109.3% on a year-over-year basis. Lumentum has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 4.050-4.350 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 19.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
More Lumentum News Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:
Positive Sentiment: Analyst support strengthened. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its “buy” rating and set a $1,300 price target, while Stifel Nicolaus raised its target from $1,100 to $1,232 and also assigned a “buy” rating. The higher targets reinforce expectations for additional upside. Lumentum Given Buy Rating at Rosenblatt Securities Lumentum Stock Gets Price Target Bump from Stifel Nicolaus Positive Sentiment: AI-driven demand remains the main catalyst. Recent coverage highlights expanding demand for Lumentum’s optical products from AI infrastructure and cloud-computing buildouts. Nvidia-related developments are also being viewed as a potential catalyst for the company’s AI-optics business. Nvidia Gave Lumentum Stock a New AI Catalyst Automatic Data Processing vs. Lumentum Positive Sentiment: Operating momentum is strong. Lumentum recently reported quarterly revenue of $1.01 billion, up 109.3% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $3.23, exceeding analyst expectations. Management’s next-quarter EPS guidance of $4.05 to $4.35 further supports the bullish outlook. Lumentum Revenue Growth Report Neutral Sentiment: Technical and valuation debate. Analysts and market commentators see potential for the rally to continue, but the stock’s record-level valuation and proximity to major resistance could increase volatility or prompt profit-taking. Lumentum Stock Hits Crucial Resistance Lumentum AI Optics Valuation Debate Lumentum Profile (Free Report)
Lumentum Holdings Inc is a photonics and optical technology company that develops and manufactures products used to transmit, process and manage light. Its solutions support communications networks, data centers, cloud computing infrastructure, industrial applications, and other technology markets that rely on high-speed optical connectivity and precision lasers.
The company’s product portfolio includes optical components and modules for telecommunications and networking, lasers and laser systems, optical amplifiers, wavelength-management products, and photonic subsystems.
See Also Five stocks we like better than Lumentum What a $1 Billion Chip Deal Says About Amazon’s AI Ambitions 3 Stocks Benefiting From AI Demand Just Announced Major Buybacks Insiders Are Selling These 3 Stocks, Should You? Datadog’s Rally Has Insiders Selling—Can It Keep Climbing? Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LITE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Free Report).
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SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lumentum Holdings Inc. ("Lumentum") today announced that it will release its fiscal first quarter 2027 financial results on Thursday, November 5th, 2026, after the market closes. Lumentum will hold an audio webcast the same day at 2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET. A live audio webcast of the call and replay will be available in the Investors section of the Lumentum website at http://investor.lumentum.com. Analysts planning to participate in the interactive Q&A po.
Buy LITE. Demand for co-packaged optics is accelerating (Nvidia scaling CPO), and LITE’s margins are already expanding (gross margin 50%+). The stock is breaking out technically (above 50/100-day MAs, Supertrend up) with a clear upside magnet near $1,200. Thesis: earnings power keeps compounding as data-center optical spend ramps.
Key Risk: Data-center capex slows or CPO rollout slips, causing revenue/margins to fall short and the stock to break below ~$1,025 support.
Nvidia (NVDA) optics supply chain
Buy NVDA. LITE’s surge is a read-through that Nvidia’s CPO scaling is working; NVDA is the demand engine behind the optics buildout. If LITE keeps running, NVDA’s optics-related revenue expectations likely get revised higher too, supporting the whole theme.
Key Risk: CPO scaling underperforms (shipments/demand miss), leading to multiple compression across optics names.
Lumentum stock has continued rising and is now hovering at its all-time high, helped by the soaring demand for its products. It jumped to a high of $1,092, up by over 80% from its lowest level since July this year. This surge has driven its market capitalization to over $97 billion.
Lumentum is a top technology company that makes optics and photonic solutions, which are used to move data at high speed. Its products have become common in data centers in the United States and other countries.
As a result, Nvidia has become a big investor in the company. It invested $2 billion in the company, which has now jumped by over 80% since then.
Nvidia is now seeking to scale out its co-packaged optics (CPO). In a statement, GF Securities expects that Nvidia will ship 15,000 units in the fourth quarter, followed by 16,000 and 30,000 in early 2027 and mid-2027. It expects these shipments to reach 100,000 units next year.
These numbers will help to supercharge its revenue growth. The most recent results showed that its revenue jumped to $1 billion in the fourth quarter, with the components division having the biggest share. Its components made $649 million, while systems made $356 million.
The revenue growth has been accompanied by a surge in margins. Its gross margin jumped to 50.4% from 37.8% from a year earlier, and this growth may continue in the near term as demand continues rising.
Analysts expect that its revenue growth has more room to go. The average estimate is that its first-quarter revenue rose by 134% to $1.25 billion, with the most optimistic forecast being $1.26 billion. Most importantly, the earnings-per-share is expected to jump from $1.1 to $4.21. These numbers make it one of the fastest-growing companies in the US.
There are two main potential challenges. The first one is if the data center industry slows, as this may impact its business. On the positive side, analysts believe that the industry has more room to grow, with Gartner analysts predicting that it will jump to over $3.64 trillion in 2027 from $2.67 trillion this year.
The other potential risk for the company is its high valuation. It has a forward, with a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 50, much higher than Nvidia’s 24 and Micron’s 8. Its multiple is also much higher than the S&P 500 Index’s 19.
LITE stock chart | Source: TradingView
The daily chart shows that the LITE stock price has rebounded in the past few months. It soared from a low of $596 in July to the current $1,085. A closer look at the chart shows that it formed an inverted head-and-shoulders pattern, one of the most common bullish reversal patterns in technical analysis.
The stock has jumped above the 50-day and 100-day moving averages and the Supertrend indicator. Also, the Average Directional Index (ADX) has continued rising, a sign that the momentum is continuing.
Therefore, the path of least resistance for the stock is higher, with the next key target to watch being at $1,200. A drop below the support level of $1,025 will invalidate the bullish outlook.
CX Institutional bought a new stake in Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LITE) during the undefined quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 564 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $548,000. A number of other institutional investors have
Investors often weigh steady dividend payers against high growth opportunities. Should you prioritize the stability of Automatic Data Processing (ADP -2.38%) or the aggressive expansion seen at Lumentum (LITE +3.79%) for your 2026 portfolio?
Automatic Data Processing provides critical human resources software for millions of workers, while Lumentum manufactures essential optical components for the artificial intelligence and telecommunications industries. These companies represent different risk profiles, with one offering a mature service model and the other targeting high-growth technological infrastructure.
Automatic Data Processing provides cloud-based human capital management and payroll services to more than 1.1 million clients globally. The company holds a dominant market position, paying over 42 million workers across 140 different countries and territories. Its revenue is highly diversified, as no single client or group of affiliated clients accounts for more than 2% of annual consolidated revenues.
In FY 2026, revenue reached nearly $21.9 billion, representing a 6.7% increase from the previous fiscal year. This growth supported a net income of approximately $4.4 billion for the same period. The company maintains a healthy net margin of roughly 20.1%, which measures the percentage of revenue remaining as profit after all expenses are paid.
As of its June 2026 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio was roughly 0.9x. This ratio compares a company's total debt to its shareholder equity, indicating how much the business relies on borrowed funds. The company generated nearly $5.2 billion in free cash flow.
The case for LumentumLumentum designs optical and photonic technologies for artificial intelligence and cloud computing, operating as a key player among tech stocks. The company relies on a small group of customers, with Customer A accounting for approximately 26.6% of revenue and Customer B accounting for nearly 15%. Customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business.
In FY 2026, revenue reached nearly $3.0 billion, which represented a significant 83.2% increase over the previous year. Despite this growth, the company reported a net loss of nearly $6.9 billion for the fiscal year. This resulted in a negative net margin of approximately 230.1%, which measures how much loss is generated for every dollar of sales.
As of its June 2026 balance sheet, Lumentum generated nearly $300.1 million in free cash flow. Note that stock-based compensation represented roughly 24.2% of operating cash flow, which inflates reported cash generation.
Risk profile comparisonAutomatic Data Processing faces risks related to complex regulatory and compliance challenges, specifically concerning payroll tax remittance and evolving data privacy laws like the EU AI Act. The company must also defend against significant cybersecurity threats and operational disruptions that could affect its cloud-computing infrastructure. Additionally, intense competition in the human capital management space remains a constant pressure on its market share.
Lumentum deals with heavy customer concentration and a lack of long-term purchase commitments, which can lead to significant revenue volatility. The company is also exposed to geopolitical risks and U.S. export controls, particularly regarding trade restrictions with China. It competes against large players such as IPG Photonics (IPGP +0.47%) and Viavi Solutions (VIAV +5.18%), which can lead to price erosion in its core markets.
Valuation comparisonAutomatic Data Processing offers a lower Forward P/E and P/S ratio than Lumentum, suggesting a more conservative valuation for the payroll giant.
MetricAutomatic Data ProcessingLumentumForward P/E23.1x38.8xP/S ratio5.2x21.4xValuation metrics sourced from Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) and may differ from other data providers.
Which stock would I buy in 2026?I'd go with Lumentum. After a difficult stretch in its telecom business, the company has emerged as one of the most direct beneficiaries of AI data center demand for optical products, and the growth keeps arriving faster than most analysts expected. Its most recent quarter was one of the strongest in the company's history: revenue more than doubled year over year in Q4, non-GAAP gross margins exceeded 50% ahead of schedule, and the company issued guidance for Q1 fiscal year 2027 indicating continued acceleration.
ADP, to its credit, is one of the most dependable businesses in enterprise software. It has beaten earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, and raised its outlook multiple times throughout the year. And it's great at what it does, reflected in its record client satisfaction scores. For investors who prioritize steady, predictable growth and a reliable dividend, it is a strong long-term hold.
But ADP is growing at a measured pace in a mature market. Lumentum is riding a wave of AI infrastructure demand that keeps pulling orders forward faster than it can fill them. For a patient investor comfortable with some volatility, Lumentum's growth trajectory is in a different league right now.
SummaryLumentum's Q4 revenue surged 109% to $1.006 billion, while gross margin reached 50.4%, far earlier than management’s historical model implied.OCS revenue should exceed $100 million quarterly as Lumentum expands deeper into higher-value AI networking and systems infrastructure.Laser demand continues exceeding capacity, while 1.6T, CPO and external laser sources provide overlapping growth drivers through 2027 and 2028.LITE trades at 48 times FY1 earnings, but 156% forward EPS growth helps justify its premium valuation versus Coherent. IURII KRASILNIKOV/iStock via Getty Images
Introduction At this point in time, the case for Lumentum Holdings (LITE) business transformation is clear, but so is the valuation risk following the 500%+ stock rally in the past year. The Q4 revenues grew by
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of LITE either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
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Each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics. Just like in school, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on -- that means the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.
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Value ScoreFinding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value, are what value investors like to focus on. So, the Value Style Score takes into account ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to highlight the most attractive and discounted stocks.
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Since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank, the direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy.
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Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Lumentum (LITE - Free Report) Lumentum Holdings Inc. is a provider of optical and photonic products serving cloud, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), telecommunications, consumer and industrial end markets. The company’s portfolio spans semiconductor laser chips and sub-assemblies, wavelength management systems, optical modules, optical circuit switches and industrial lasers used in precision materials processing. Its technologies enable high-capacity optical links for intra-data center, data center interconnect, long-haul and submarine networks, and support enterprise networking across SANs, LANs and WANs. Industrial laser products are used in semiconductor and microelectronics fabrication, electric vehicle and battery production, metal cutting and welding, and other advanced manufacturing.
LITE is a #2 (Buy) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of B.
Additionally, the company could be a top pick for growth investors. LITE has a Growth Style Score of A, forecasting year-over-year earnings growth of 145.7% for the current fiscal year.
Nine analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2027. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $3.14 to $21.30 per share. LITE boasts an average earnings surprise of +9.8%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Growth and VGM Style Scores, LITE should be on investors' short list.
Source: TradePulse | October 1, 2026 as of 2:00PM EST
Market Overview
Recent aggregate flow data reflects continued participation across several key market segments, with technology, semiconductors, aerospace, energy, financial services, industrials, consumer markets, and agriculture represented within TradePulse’s Top Inflows dataset.
Within the current Top Inflows rankings, Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) leads by TradePulse’s aggregate flow score, followed by Coherent Corp., Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares, Accenture plc, and Strategy Inc. Credo Technology Group, Applied Optoelectronics, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF, Boeing, and GE Vernova also rank among the highest by flow score, reinforcing continued activity across technology, semiconductors, aerospace, and energy.
Observations from Current Flow Activity
• Lumentum Holdings Inc. currently leads the Top Inflows rankings in aggregate flow score, supported by particularly strong large-deal activity, despite negative momentum and daily-flow readings.
• Technology and semiconductor participation represents one of the broadest areas of the current rankings, with Lumentum Holdings, Coherent Corp., Credo Technology Group, Applied Optoelectronics, Seagate Technology, Synopsys, and AXT among the top inflows.
• Semiconductor-focused ETFs and leveraged products are also prominently represented, with the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares and VanEck Semiconductor ETF ranking among the highest by aggregate flow score, alongside individual semiconductor and technology securities.
• Aerospace and energy participation is represented through Boeing and GE Vernova.
Interpreting Flow and Momentum Signals
It is important to distinguish between capital inflows and short-term price performance, as flow activity and directional momentum do not always align.
For example, Lumentum Holdings Inc., Coherent Corp., Credo Technology Group, Applied Optoelectronics, and Boeing display significant large-deal activity despite mixed or negative momentum and daily-flow readings. This may suggest positioning that is not necessarily reflected in short-term price performance. Conversely, Coherent Corp., Accenture plc, Strategy Inc., Synopsys Inc., and Seagate Technology Holdings PLC demonstrate positive price performance alongside positive momentum and/or daily-flow readings, potentially reflecting continued directional strength or active positioning.
Since divergence often occurs during periods of sector rotation or short-term volatility, flow data should be interpreted as contextual insight rather than a standalone trading signal.
Sector Positioning: Focused Participation Across Markets
The latest sector breakdown reflects concentrated participation across several major market groups:
• Aerospace & Energy: Boeing Company and GE Vernova Inc.
• Financial Services & Financial Technology: The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation and Fair Isaac Corporation.
• Consumer Markets: DoorDash Inc.
• Agriculture: Corteva Inc.
Technology and semiconductor-related securities represent a significant group within the current rankings, spanning optical communications, semiconductor connectivity, data storage, chip design software, and semiconductor-focused investment products. Aerospace and energy provide additional areas of participation, while financial services, consumer markets, agriculture, and business services are also represented.
Implications for Market Participants
From an analytical perspective, current flow trends suggest:
• Sustained activity across semiconductor, optical communications, data-storage, and technology infrastructure securities.
• Significant participation across semiconductor-focused ETFs and leveraged investment products.
• Continued activity across aerospace and energy-related securities.
• Additional positioning across financial services, financial technology, business services, consumer markets, and agriculture.
• Strong large-deal activity across several of the highest-ranked securities, particularly within technology and semiconductor-related names.
Technology and semiconductor participation is particularly significant within the current rankings, accounting for several of the highest-ranked flow scores and representing a broad range of companies and investment products. Together, these securities highlight a notable concentration of current flow activity across technology and computing infrastructure, while aerospace, energy, financial services, consumer markets, business services, and agriculture provide additional areas of participation.
When combined with earnings data, economic indicators, and technical analysis, flow data metrics can provide a more comprehensive understanding of market positioning.
Closing Perspective
Current flow activity continues to highlight strong participation across technology, semiconductors, optical communications, computing infrastructure, aerospace, and energy. At the same time, mixed momentum and daily-flow readings across some of the top-ranked names reinforce the importance of separating capital participation from short-term directional performance. Monitoring retail and institutional flows across these sectors can offer valuable insight into how market participants are positioning as market conditions continue to evolve.
This material is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Past performance and observed flows are not indicative of future results.
Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.
Lumentum, a global leader in optical and photonic technology, today announced its speaker lineup at the 2026 Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit, themed “Scaling Innovation for the AI Era.” The event will take place from October 12 – 15 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.
External Laser Source Architectures for Deployable CPO-Based AI NetworksChristian Urricariet, Senior Director, Product and Strategic MarketingWednesday, October 14 from 1:10 – 1:25 p.m.SJCC - Concourse Level - 210AEPanel: Slow and Wide 12.8T VCSEL SolutionsOleg Shchekin, Head of High-Density InterconnectWednesday, October 14 from 1:50 – 2:15 p.m.SJCC - Concourse Level - 210AEZero-Touch OCS Fabrics for AI Scale-Out Infrastructure at HyperscaleJoint presentation led by Kannan Raj, Architect at Oracle Cloud InfrastructureMichael DeMerchant, Senior Director, Product Line Management, OCS at LumentumThursday, October 15 from 8:45 – 9:05 a.m.SJCC - Concourse Level - 210AEFor more information, visit OCP Global Summit | Lumentum.
About Lumentum
Lumentum (NASDAQ: LITE) is a global leader in optical and photonic technologies that power the networks and infrastructure behind AI, cloud computing, and next-generation communications. Built on decades of photonics innovation, Lumentum delivers high-performance lasers, modules, and optical subsystems that enable scalable, energy-efficient data center connectivity, advanced telecom networks, industrial manufacturing, and sensing applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company operates R&D, manufacturing, and sales facilities worldwide. Learn more at www.lumentum.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261001653795/en/
Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lumentum, a global leader in optical and photonic technology, today announced its speaker lineup at the 2026 Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit, themed “Scaling Innovation for the AI Era.” The event will take place from October 12 – 15 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. External Laser Source Architectures for Deployable CPO-Based AI Networks Christian Urricariet, Senior Director, Product and Strategic Marketing Wednesday, October 14 from 1:10 –.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Lumentum Holdings Inc. is on another upswing following the tech sector rally. LITE is positioned for success in a growing industry as laser demand surges. With AI CapEx gobbling up supply, Lumentum looks poised to benefit over the next few years.
Shares of Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) are trading higher Tuesday afternoon, advancing alongside broader fiber optic connectivity equities as a wave of artificial intelligence infrastructure deals boosts optic connectivity companies.
Here’s what investors need to know.
Lumentum Holdings shares are powering higher. Why is LITE stock up today? OpenAI Revenue and Anthropic Compute Deal Fuel Infrastructure OptimismThe sector-wide rally is being driven by a cluster of mega-cap AI developments that signal sustained, long-term capital expenditure in data center infrastructure. Market sentiment was lifted by reports that OpenAI’s recurring revenue run rate is now nearing $70 billion, highlighting the massive monetization scale of generative AI models.
Simultaneously, reports surfaced detailing an unprecedented $84.5 billion compute agreement between AI research firm Anthropic and SpaceX. For fiber optic suppliers like Lumentum, these massive compute and revenue milestones guarantee corresponding investments in data center networking, as scaling AI clusters requires immense high-speed optical connectivity to transfer data between servers.
AMD’s $8.2 Billion World Labs Acquisition Signals Ongoing AI InvestmentAdding to the structural bullishness, Advanced Micro Devices announced a definitive agreement to acquire AI startup World Labs for $8.2 billion. The ongoing consolidation and aggressive expansion by major semiconductor firms further buttress Wall Street’s confidence in the hardware layer of the AI trade.
Read-Through for Lumentum and Optical Transceiver DemandTuesday’s catalysts directly benefit Lumentum’s core business. The company manufactures the critical photonic chips and optical transceivers required to build high-bandwidth, low-power interconnects within AI data centers.
As compute loads from Anthropic, OpenAI and AMD expand, the underlying physical infrastructure requires a proportional increase in fiber optic density, driving institutional buyers back into Lumentum equity on expectations of sustained, multi-year order volume.
LITE Stock Climbs Tuesday AfternoonLITE Price Action: Lumentum Holdings shares closed Tuesday up 5.66% at $973.48, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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V závěru obchodní seance ropa WTI (-3,79 %) pokračovala v poklesu a udržela index Nasdaq v kladných hodnotách. Výraznější vzpruhu zaznamenaly drahé kovy, kde zlato přidalo +0,98 % a stříbro +0,15 %, které se dostalo ze záporných hodnot. Z technologických akcií se dařilo spíše čipovému sektoru. Ze softwarových společností výrazněji vyčuhovala společnost Meta +3,24 % či Oracle +3,99 %. Lehce do kladných hodnot se přetočily nakonec i kryptoměny, přičemž BTC přidalo symbolických +0,01 %. Trh jako celek osciloval celý den kolem nuly.
Akcie Fair Isaac (FICO) poté, co Federální agentura pro financování bydlení oznámila plán zjednodušit stanovování cen hypoték, končí se ztrátou -27 %
Index Dow Jones -0,25 % na 51350,99 b.
S&P 500 -0,16 % na 7671,18 b.
Nasdaq Composite -0,09 % na 26797,54 b.
Index S&P 500 -0,16 % na 7671,18 b. Nejsilnější sektory S&P Změna Nejslabší sektory S&P Změna Utility +1,1 % Energie -0,9 % Komunikační služby +0,4 % Základní materiály -0,5 % Průmysl +0,2 % Nezbytná spotřeba -0,5 % Nejsilnější akcie S&P Změna Nejslabší akcie S&P Změna Carnival Corp (CCL) +13 % Fair Isaac Corp (FICO) -27 % Bloom Energy Corp (BE) +11 % Lululemon Athletica (LULU) -3,7 % Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) +7,5 % Steel Dynamics (STLD) -3,7 % Lumentum Holdings (LITE) +5,7 % Equifax (EFX) -3,4 % Carvana (CVNA) +5,2 % Nucor Corp (NUE) -3,4 %
Jan Pazourek, Fio banka, a.s.
Key Takeaways Lumentum is seeing surging demand for optical components as AI workloads boost data center connectivity. LITE's 800G shipments, 1.6T modules and laser demand are driving growth and capacity expansion. Navitas is ramping AI power programs, but losses, rising spending and execution risks remain key challenges. Lumentum Holdings (LITE - Free Report) and Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS - Free Report) are two key players in the AI data center market. They benefit from the growing demand for data centers, artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, and energy-efficient technologies.
Lumentum designs and sells optical and photonic components, such as lasers and optical networking products, which help move data quickly through fiber-optic networks used by cloud and AI data centers. Navitas Semiconductor focuses on Gallium nitride (GaN) and Silicon carbide (SiC) chips used in next-generation AI data centers and energy systems. Its products are used in fast chargers, electric vehicles, and data centers.
LITE or NVTS — Which of these AI Data Center stocks has the greater upside potential? Let’s find out.
The Case for LITE StockLumentum is benefiting from strong demand for its optical components and systems, driven by the industry shift to AI workloads and increased data center connectivity. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, the company reported a 109% year-over-year revenue surge to $1.01 billion, marking its eighth consecutive quarter of top-line growth. Accelerating adoption of optical links in data centers, driven by AI workloads that demand higher speed and bandwidth, is fueling this momentum.
Key growth drivers include record shipments of 800G cloud transceivers, the launch of next-generation 1.6T modules and strong demand for both EML and CW laser chips. LITE’s pump laser shipments surged more than 80% year over year in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, and the company remains effectively sold out despite rapid capacity expansion. Strategic long-term agreements with major customers further secure future demand and support ongoing capital investments.
The market’s shift toward near-packaged optics (NPO) and co-packaged optics (CPO) is also playing directly to LITE’s strengths. Customers are increasingly adopting these architectures as intermediate steps to full CPO deployment, significantly expanding the total addressable market for optical solutions.
The company is already seeing strong NPO momentum across multiple high-velocity engagements, leveraging its industry-leading laser chip technology. Lumentum expects a fourfold increase in pump laser shipments over the next several quarters and is expanding capacity at its wafer fabs to capture the coming 200-gig and 300-gig lane speed opportunities.
The Case for NVTS StockNavitas Semiconductor is becoming a focused high-power semiconductor supplier for AI data centers, grid infrastructure, performance computing and industrial electrification. Its combined GaN and high-voltage SiC portfolio broadens content opportunities across evolving power architectures, while record book-to-bill, multiple customer programs and a richer product mix support growth and margin expansion.
Management highlighted a sequential revenue increase of 22% in the second quarter of 2026, with high-power markets growing more than 50% year over year. Navitas Semiconductor’s AI-focused product offerings have established it as a differentiated provider for hyperscalers and telecenter OEMs, with multiple major design wins and ramping programs that will accelerate growth through 2027 and beyond.
The company is securing opportunities across AC-DC power supplies, DC-DC power supplies, battery backup units and compute trays. Several programs are expected to ramp up during the second half of 2026 and continue through 2027. Management said that the initial SiC adoption cycle is already occurring independently of native 800V deployment because higher rack power requires greater efficiency and density.
Sidecar-related programs are expected to begin ramping up in the first half of 2027 and accelerate around midyear. Native 800V systems should create another GaN content increase from mid-to-late 2027 into 2028. Record book-to-bill and backlog extending beyond 2026 support management’s expectation for double-digit sequential growth through the second half of 2026.
Price Performance and Valuation of LITE and NVTSIn the year-to-date period, LITE shares have skyrocketed 150%, outperforming Navitas Semiconductor shares, which have risen 64.3%. Lumentum is benefiting from the rapid expansion of AI and cloud infrastructure, which is increasing bandwidth requirements within data centers and accelerating the shift from electrical to optical connectivity.
Despite Navitas Semiconductor expanding its portfolio, revenues remain small relative to operating costs, profitability is still distant and planned spending is rising. Future growth depends on customers completing lengthy qualifications and scaling new AI programs. Competition, foundry dependence and pending litigation add execution risk.
LITE and NVTS Stock Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Both LITE and NVTS shares are currently overvalued, as suggested by a Value Score of F.
In terms of forward 12-month Price/Sales, LITE shares are trading at 11.66X, lower than NVTS’s 48.08X.
LITE and NVTS Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
How Do Earnings Estimates Compare for LITE & NVTS?The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LITE’s fiscal 2027 earnings is pegged at $21.30 per share, which has increased 0.14% over the past 30 days. This indicates a 145.67% increase year over year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVTS’s 2026 earnings is pegged at a loss of 14 cents per share, which has been unchanged over the past 30 days. This indicates a 30% increase year over year.
Lumentum’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 9.77%. Navitas Semiconductor earnings beat the consensus mark in one of the trailing four quarters while came in line in the other three occasions, delivering an average surprise of 5%. The average surprise of Lumentum is higher than that of Navitas Semiconductor.
ConclusionWhile both LITE and NVTS stand to benefit from robust AI data-center demand, Lumentum appears better positioned, backed by stronger earnings growth, rising estimates and accelerating demand for next-generation optical solutions.
NVTS, meanwhile, faces ongoing losses and execution risks as it works to scale its AI-focused power semiconductor programs.
Currently, Lumentum has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), making the stock a stronger pick than Navitas Semiconductor, which has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Optics stocks cratered after Citi dropped a major optical switching forecast, then buyers rushed back in less than 24 hours. What snapped sentiment around so fast, and how durable is the rebound?
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Optics stocks are clawing back a sharp selloff, and Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ:LITE | LITE Price Prediction) is leading the recovery. Lumentum stock is at $981.74, up 7% in morning trading, as buyers return to AI connectivity names across the board. The rebound is running through the whole cluster of optical suppliers, with rivals and a photonics-focused fund moving higher together.
Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) shares are at $297.23, up 5%, a step behind the group leader. Similarly, Corning (NYSE:GLW) shares are at $159.74, up 5%, as the glass and fiber maker joins the rally. Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) stock is trading higher with the rest of the group, rounding out a move that covers laser makers, transceiver builders and fiber suppliers alike.
Sector-level trading confirms the scope of the rebound, with the Roundhill Photonics & Optics ETF (CBOE:LYTE) up 4%. At the index level, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is practically unchanged, edging slightly lower. That split shows money rotating specifically into optics while the broad market stands still.
How a Citi Forecast Set Up the Optics Rebound Citi published research on Monday forecasting a large optical switching market later this decade, driven by demand from big cloud and chip customers. Optics stocks sold off anyway, leaving Lumentum and peers on the back foot even as the research pointed to strong long-term demand.
The subject is of Citi’s research is optical circuit switching, which Citi describes as an emerging technology for AI data centers. The forecast is that it becomes an $11 billion market by 2030.
Lumentum is leading a recovery across the optical cluster, a pattern that points to traders rebuilding optics exposure. The synced move reflects sentiment toward the AI connectivity trade as a whole.
Lumentum’s Order Book Anchors the Bull Case Bulls point to the switching demand Citi described, since optical component suppliers exist to serve exactly that kind of expansion. Lumentum posted Q4 FY2026 revenue of $1.006 billion, up 109.3% year over year. Adjusted earnings per share of $3.23 topped expectations of $2.97.
Lumentum’s management guided Q1 FY2027 revenue to $1.225 billion to $1.275 billion, and stated the company reached its target model “more than one quarter ahead of schedule.” CEO Michael Hurlston declared on the August 11 call, “Lumentum is positioned at the heart of a secular industry shift.” One session of selling left the order book intact.
Citi’s forecast centers on optical switching, a market where Lumentum is already increasing production. Shipments doubled its optical circuit switch shipments from Q3 FY2026 to Q4, and management stated on the call, “The demand signal for 2027 continues to be incredibly strong.” Management expected Q1 to bring the company’s first triple-digit optical circuit switch revenue quarter.
What the Photonics Fund Says About Lumentum The case against Lumentum depends on volatility. Shares have shown they can fall hard and rebound fast, suggesting flow sets the price more than fundamentals. Management stated on the earnings call, “We are way behind our shipments, unfortunately, on high-powered lasers.”
Roundhill’s photonics fund offers the clearest signal of what has shifted. During the prior selloff, the fund fell further than the names inside it, and the ETF is now outperforming the broad market. Lumentum and Coherent were the two largest positions in the fund as of its August 6 fact sheet, so strength in the ETF and the Lumentum rebound feed each other.
Managing Risk in a Flow-Driven Rally A strong fundamental story at Lumentum sits alongside a price that swings with group sentiment. Shareholders are best served by sizing positions modestly, because Lumentum stock can move sharply in either direction on sector flow alone. That speed cuts both ways, since the same buying that lifted the optics group can reverse just as fast.
Investors spreading their exposure across Lumentum, Coherent and Corning could reduce the risk tied to any single supplier’s execution. The LYTE photonics fund already offers that kind of spread, with its weighting concentrated in a handful of top names.
Traders may want to watch for Lumentum stock to hold its gains into the close, since a late fade would signal that the flow behind the rebound remains fragile. Further out, Lumentum’s next quarterly report will show whether the company delivered on its Q1 guidance.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
NVIDIA NASDAQ: NVDA spent most of September arguing that AI safety is an engineering problem, not a legal one. On Sept. 28, the company shipped the product to prove it. NVIDIA introduced the Open Agent Safety Platform alongside more than 100 industry partners, pairing open-source access controls with an independent monitoring layer that runs on separate silicon so it can watch an AI agent without living inside it. Jensen Huang framed the launch plainly: AI's potential only gets realized if safety gets solved alongside capability.
Investors hear "safety" and price in a slowdown. Luke Lango of InvestorPlace thinks that reading is backward and that a self-regulation path widens the AI infrastructure spending pipeline rather than narrowing it. That's the setup behind three names he's watching.
Get Marvell Technology alerts:
Self-Regulation Costs More Compute, Not LessLango's argument starts with mechanics. If labs agree to evaluate each other's models rather than wait for Washington, every new release triggers another round of testing, monitoring and peer review. All of that runs on hardware.
It also changes the kind of hardware in demand. Slowing the frontier means slowing pre-training, the GPU-heavy part of the stack. Testing and serving models at scale is inference, and it depends less on raw chip power than on moving data efficiently and coordinating many tasks at once. Lango expects that shift from training to inference to define the next six to 12 months of demand, favoring CPUs and connectivity over raw accelerators.
That's the tension worth watching. Under a safety regime, the AI trade doesn't die. It rotates.
Marvell Technology Sits Where the Bottleneck MovedHuang made this case himself. At Computex in early June, he called Marvell Technology NASDAQ: MRVL the next trillion-dollar company, pointing to the connectivity that lets thousands of chips behave like one machine.
Marvell Technology Today
MRVL
Marvell Technology
$261.90 +10.00 (+3.97%)
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This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
$70.68▼
$329.880.09%
86.56
$272.00
Shares jumped more than 32% the next session, the stock's best day on record.
The business has kept pace with the rhetoric. Marvell guided fiscal 2027 revenue to roughly $12 billion and fiscal 2028 to about $18 billion, and the stock has returned over 200% so far in 2026.
It's also well off its highs, trading around 20% below its 52-week peak after an August sell-off. Lango treats that gap as the opportunity, arguing the data center networking names that ran hard, pulled back and held their long-term trend lines are where the shopping list starts.
Arm Holdings Is Selling CPUs Into a CPU ShortageThe second name is Arm Holdings NASDAQ: ARM, and the pitch is timing.
ARM Today
$298.88 +15.55 (+5.49%)
As of 11:37 AM Eastern
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
$100.02▼
$452.70306.46
$305.72
In March, Arm shipped the AGI CPU, the first production chip in its 35-year history as a licensing business. It runs up to 136 Neoverse V3 cores, is manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing NYSE: TSM on a 3-nanometer node, and Arm claims more than double the performance per rack versus x86 platforms.
Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META co-developed the chip and took first delivery, with OpenAI, Cerebras NASDAQ: CBRS and Cloudflare NYSE: NET among launch partners.
The CPU went from afterthought to orchestration layer as agentic workloads spread. That resurgence has already carried Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ: AMD up roughly 280% over the past year and put a fresh bid under Intel NASDAQ: INTC. Lango sees Arm as the higher-torque version of the same trade, because it's converting from royalties into silicon revenue right as AI inference demand accelerates.
Lumentum Holds the Bandwidth BottleneckCopper can only carry so much. As GPUs multiply and constantly talk to one another, data centers are swapping copper interconnects for optics, photonics and fiber. That's the core business of Lumentum Holdings NASDAQ: LITE.
Lumentum Today
$976.14 +54.82 (+5.95%)
As of 11:37 AM Eastern
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
$147.81▼
$1,085.68$1,066.87
The numbers reflect it. Lumentum closed fiscal 2026 with $1.01 billion in fourth-quarter revenue and guided the current quarter to a midpoint near $1.25 billion.
NVIDIA committed $2 billion to expand Lumentum's capacity and deepen joint development on data center optics.
Unlike Marvell and Arm, this stock hasn't corrected so much as stalled.
Lango reads the sideways action as consolidation ahead of a move rather than a broken growth story, and the AI safety stocks framing gives it a second tailwind: more model-checking means more traffic between chips, and more traffic means wider optical highways.
Self-Regulation Keeps the Capital Spending Cycle IntactMarvell, Arm and Lumentum are three pieces of one machine: custom silicon, orchestration and bandwidth. None of them depends on the frontier labs racing faster. They depend on models being served, tested and checked constantly, which is precisely what self-regulation would institutionalize.
What the setup does depend on is CapEx discipline holding and the macro backdrop easing enough for high-multiple hardware names to re-rate. If the 10-year yield stays elevated and liquidity stays tight, good numbers may keep getting offset by a shrinking multiple, exactly as they have been.
Stay focused on where the marginal compute dollar goes, because that is what moves these stocks far more than the next doomsday headline.
For more on the physical AI wave and the infrastructure Elon Musk is assembling around it, see Luke Lango's special reports on Elon Musk, SpaceX and the next stage of AI.
Should You Invest $1,000 in Marvell Technology Right Now?Before you consider Marvell Technology, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Marvell Technology wasn't on the list.
While Marvell Technology currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
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Explore the exciting world of Lumentum (LITE -2.16%) with our contributing expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential investment opportunities!
*Stock prices used were the prices of Aug. 19, 2026. The video was published on Sep. 28, 2026.
Anand Chokkavelu has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Jon Quast has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Matt Frankel, CFP® has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Lumentum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Lumentum (LITE) has become a critical company in the development of AI, and investors took notice by helping the stock rally over 150% since the start of 2026. Rick Ducat takes investors through the key support and resistance levels to watch amid the stunning rise of shares over the last nine months.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) insider Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $946.56, for a total transaction of $473,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 110,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,241,813.12. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
Yuen Wupen also recently made the following trade(s):
On Monday, September 21st, Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of Lumentum stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $959.27, for a total transaction of $479,635.00. On Friday, September 18th, Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of Lumentum stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $920.00, for a total transaction of $460,000.00. On Wednesday, September 16th, Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of Lumentum stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $856.83, for a total value of $428,415.00. On Monday, September 14th, Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of Lumentum stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $862.14, for a total value of $431,070.00. On Thursday, September 10th, Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of Lumentum stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $961.44, for a total value of $480,720.00. On Tuesday, September 8th, Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of Lumentum stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $895.99, for a total value of $447,995.00. On Friday, September 4th, Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of Lumentum stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $860.00, for a total value of $430,000.00. On Wednesday, September 2nd, Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of Lumentum stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $864.49, for a total value of $432,245.00. On Monday, August 31st, Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of Lumentum stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $895.00, for a total value of $447,500.00. On Friday, August 28th, Yuen Wupen sold 500 shares of Lumentum stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $940.95, for a total value of $470,475.00. Lumentum Stock Performance NASDAQ:LITE opened at $929.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $857.86 and its 200-day moving average is $842.63. Lumentum Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.52 and a 1-year high of $1,085.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $83.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.30 and a beta of 1.53.
Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 11th. The technology company reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.26. Lumentum had a negative net margin of 230.15% and a positive return on equity of 26.34%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $987.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 109.3% on a year-over-year basis. Lumentum has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 4.050-4.350 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 19.78 earnings per share for the current year. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lumentum Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Lumentum in the second quarter worth $1,621,396,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lumentum during the 4th quarter worth about $474,495,000. Situational Awareness LP boosted its position in shares of Lumentum by 210.9% during the 4th quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 1,298,400 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $478,577,000 after purchasing an additional 880,800 shares in the last quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Lumentum in the 4th quarter valued at about $251,363,000. Finally, WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Lumentum in the 2nd quarter valued at about $494,688,000. 94.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth LITE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Lumentum from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. UBS Group set a $820.00 target price on Lumentum in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Lumentum from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Evercore initiated coverage on Lumentum in a research report on Monday, August 31st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,100.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Lumentum in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,053.83.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Lumentum
Trending Headlines about Lumentum Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:
Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its Buy rating and assigned a $1,300 price target, reflecting confidence in Lumentum’s AI-optics growth prospects. The broader analyst consensus remains Moderate Buy, with a cited average target of $1,053.83. Positive Sentiment: Lumentum’s planned demonstrations of advanced optical products, including an eight-wavelength DWDM ELSFP solution, could improve its positioning in co-packaged and near-packaged optics as data-center bandwidth requirements rise. Lumentum DWDM ELSFP demonstration Positive Sentiment: The company’s latest reported quarter showed strong momentum: revenue rose 109.3% year over year to $1.01 billion, while adjusted earnings of $3.23 per share exceeded expectations of $2.97. Management’s Q1 2027 EPS guidance of $4.05–$4.35 also supports the bullish outlook. Neutral Sentiment: Lumentum has recently outperformed several optical-infrastructure peers, including Corning and Coherent. This suggests investors are distinguishing between companies based on their individual AI exposure rather than broadly buying the sector. Lumentum AI optics performance versus peers Negative Sentiment: Insider Yuen Wupen sold two 500-share blocks on September 21 and 23 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sales were small relative to his remaining ownership and appear routine, but could create a modest sentiment headwind after the stock’s strong advance. Lumentum SEC insider transaction filing Lumentum Company Profile (Get Free Report)
Lumentum Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: LITE) designs and manufactures optical and photonic products used to transmit, process and control light. Its portfolio includes optical components, modules, subsystems, lasers and photonic integrated circuits that support communications networks, data centers, cloud infrastructure and industrial applications.
The company also supplies technologies for consumer electronics and 3D sensing, including laser-based products used in applications such as depth sensing and facial recognition.
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