AI Optics Stocks Roar Back As Wall Street Sees Room To Run
When it comes to AI infrastructure, the optics have never looked better. After a rough patch, optical networking stocks roared back amid fresh earnings beats and a bullish note from Wall Street. The group has already logged some of 2026’s biggest gains, and investors are betting there’s still room to run.
- This year, Applied Optoelectronics, Lumentum, and Coherent have surged ~2x-5x — and all three jumped again on Wednesday.
- With AI hyperscalers needing faster ways to move data between chips, posted record quarterly revenue — while doubled datacenter sales.
Frickin’ laser beams: According to JP Morgan, the recent pullback was overdone. After double-digit drops, and, the bank’s analyst, Samik Chatterjee, called it a buying opportunity. Even after this year’s surge, both stocks trade around 25x 2028 earnings estimates, with profits expected to grow 40%+ over that span. While investors had worried that Nvidia’s delays would dent orders, Chatterjee says the rollout remains on track. Still, with so much of that growth tied to one customer, the optimism comes with a catch.
