Was There Any Sign Coherent Stock Would Run? Trefis Team Tue, October 13, 2026 at 8:19 PM EDT 4 min read COHR +0.68% ^GSPC -0.02% LITE -0.75% IPGP -0.26% MKSI -0.94% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Coherent (COHR) stock returned 135.4% in the twelve months to October 12, 2026, against 17.3% for the S&P 500. Sales growth accelerated over those months, and management credits demand from AI data centers. Investors could have anticipated this run only if Coherent's sales and profit metrics were already improving in reports filed before October 2025. So when did the improvement first show up?
Coherent's Jump In Revenue Was Filed In 2024
The turning point appeared in the report Coherent filed on November 6, 2024, for its fiscal first quarter of 2025. Revenue in that quarter climbed 28.0% from a year earlier. This marked a sharp acceleration from the 9.1% growth reported in the previous quarter, filed in August 2024.
During an earnings call that same day, management noted that the company's non-GAAP gross margin had widened from the prior quarter. So faster sales and a wider margin were both public knowledge about eleven months before October 2025.
Coherent's Margin Widened, Then Its Sales Growth Slowed
Coherent kept its operating margin above its 2024 level in every quarter filed in 2025, but its sales growth lost momentum. On a February 5, 2025 call, management stated that widening the gross margin would be a strategic focus. The operating margin reached 10.1% in the report filed in February 2025, up from 5.9% in the quarter filed in August 2024.
A Zacks preview published on May 5, 2025, noted that Coherent's sales were expected to have benefited from rising demand for transceivers, which are components the company supplies for data center networks. Coherent was also reducing its leverage. On an August 13, 2025 call, management reported the company had cut its debt leverage ratio to 2 times from 2.5 times.
Sales growth was fading, however. Revenue grew 23.9% in the quarter filed in May 2025 and 16.4% in the report filed that August, which was the final disclosure before October 2025. Coherent's operating margin in that same August report had slipped back to 9.5%.
By Fall 2025 You Paid Double For Coherent
Coherent stock returned 120.7% in the six months before October 9, 2025, the first day of the twelve months measured here. Investors acting on those reports that October were therefore buying a stock that had already more than doubled. Coherent was not the only stock experiencing a run. Lumentum returned 523.1% in the twelve months to October 12, 2026.
Coherent's data center business expanded significantly after that point. Its Datacenter & Communications segment brought in $5.3 billion in fiscal 2026, an increase from $3.8 billion the year before. That fiscal 2026 figure accounts for most of the $7.1 billion Coherent sold during the year.
Are Coherent's Orders And Revenue Still Climbing?
The latest figures indicate they are. Revenue growth reached 17.3% in the fiscal first quarter of 2026 and 17.5% in the second. Growth then accelerated to 20.5% in the third quarter and 33.7% in the fourth.
Management guided to revenue of $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, compared to $2.05 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026. On an August 12, 2026 call, management also noted that demand drove another quarter of record bookings and that fiscal 2027 is basically booked out. Profit has kept pace, with the operating margin over the latest twelve months reaching 12.7%, against 9.2% a year earlier.
The stock has not followed this upward trajectory lately. Coherent shares are down 6.5% over the past six months, while the S&P 500 is up 14.0%. First-quarter revenue will be the number to watch in Coherent's next report. A figure inside the guidance range would mean sales are still climbing, and a result below the fourth quarter's $2.05 billion would show they have stopped.
Now you know COHR better. And that's our purpose: to make you informed before you invest your money. However, making a bet on a single stock carries its own risks.
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