Coherent shares fall 11.3% as price target cut and U.S. stocks retreat
Key Facts
Coherent shares fell 11.3% in morning trading on October 22, 2026, according to Investing.com, as U.S. stock indexes declined ahead of the company's quarterly results in November. The decline came as Susquehanna lowered its price target for the stock from $425 to $350, according to the website, revising its target while retaining its Positive rating on the company. The firm thus maintained its positive stance on the stock despite lowering its target price, while losses during the trading session extended to the broader market. The Nasdaq fell 2.2% and the S&P 500 declined 1.4%, according to index levels cited in Investing.com's coverage of the session. Optical networking stocks had previously seen another selloff covered by the website in a report published on October 13, Australian time. During that earlier selloff, Ciena shares fell 10.3% in afternoon trading to $403.44. Coherent's latest decline follows those sector losses and comes as optics companies have reported growing revenue and long-term commitments for their production capacity.
Coherent reported revenue of $2.05 billion in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2026, up 34% from the same period a year earlier, according to the company's earnings release. Management linked the growth opportunity to the shift in architectures used within AI data centers, saying these architectures are "increasingly shifting from copper to optical connectivity." To finance expansion in these technologies, Nvidia announced a $2 billion investment in Coherent in March 2026 as part of a strategic partnership to develop optical technologies used in data center infrastructure. Nvidia said the investment supports research and development, future production capacity and operations, alongside expanded manufacturing in the United States. The partnership also includes a multibillion-dollar purchase commitment from Nvidia, along with future rights to access laser and optical networking products and production capacity, according to Reuters via Investing.com. Elsewhere in the sector, Lumentum reported revenue of $1.01 billion in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2026, according to its earnings release. Investing.com cited Lumentum management in an October 14 report as saying optical component capacity was "fully booked through early 2029," the horizon management specified for capacity commitments for these components.
Coherent's next disclosures begin on November 4, 2026, when the company reports results for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, according to its official earnings announcement. The company scheduled the release for after the New York Stock Exchange closes, presenting its fiscal 2027 first-quarter performance following the annual growth recorded in the preceding fourth quarter. Lumentum follows on November 5, 2026, having announced that it will release its fiscal 2027 first-quarter results after the market closes, with the two companies reporting on consecutive days early in the month. In its fourth-quarter earnings release, Lumentum forecast fiscal 2027 first-quarter revenue of between $1.225 billion and $1.275 billion, compared with the preceding quarter's revenue of $1.01 billion. Lumentum's published guidance thus targets quarterly revenue above its fourth-quarter level, with actual performance for the period due to be disclosed on November 5, after Coherent reports its results the previous day.