What Happened?

Shares of laser company nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) fell 17.1% in the afternoon session after the company reported underwhelming preliminary fourth quarter results, with sales expected to fall below the previous guidance range. Precisely, LASR expects Q4 2024 revenues of $46 million to $48 million (vs. previous estimates of $49 million to $54 million). The company blamed the weakness on "continued weakness in our industrial markets, execution challenges in our microfabrication business, and the timing of the delivery of a limited number of defense products." Consequently, profit indicators, including gross margin and adjusted EBITDA, are also expected to fall significantly below previous estimates. Overall, the results aren't encouraging and indicate challenging times ahead.

The shares closed the day at $9.86, down 11.1% from previous close.

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What The Market Is Telling Us

nLIGHT’s shares are quite volatile and have had 19 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for nLIGHT and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.

nLIGHT is down 5% since the beginning of the year, and at $9.88 per share, it is trading 32.7% below its 52-week high of $14.68 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of nLIGHT’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $467.58.

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