Earnings call transcript: nLIGHT Q3 2025 beats EPS forecast by 700%

nLIGHT Inc. (NASDAQ:LASR) reported its third-quarter 2025 earnings, showcasing a significant earnings per share (EPS) beat, with actual EPS of $0.08 compared to the forecasted $0.01, marking a 700% surprise. The company's revenue also exceeded expectations, reaching $66.7 million against a forecast of $63.6 million. Despite this strong performance, nLIGHT's stock experienced a decline of 5.62% during regular trading hours, closing at $31.50, before recovering by 4.57% in aftermarket trading.

Key Takeaways

• nLIGHT's Q3 EPS of $0.08 surpassed forecasts by 700%.
• Revenue for Q3 2025 reached $66.7 million, up 19% year-over-year.
• The stock fell 5.62% during regular trading but rebounded 4.57% in aftermarket.
• Record aerospace and defense revenue contributed to strong financial performance.
• The company provided Q4 revenue guidance between $72-$78 million.

Company Performance

nLIGHT demonstrated robust growth in the third quarter of 2025, driven by its aerospace and defense sector, which saw a 50% year-over-year increase in revenue. The company's focus on high-energy laser systems and laser sensing technologies has positioned it well within the defense market. Despite a challenging commercial market, nLIGHT's strategic investments and restructuring efforts are yielding positive results.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $66.7 million, up 19% YoY
• EPS: $0.08, significantly above the forecast of $0.01
• Product gross margin: 41%, up from 29% last year
• Adjusted EBITDA: $7.1 million, compared to a loss of $1 million last year

Earnings vs. Forecast

nLIGHT's actual EPS of $0.08 far exceeded the forecasted $0.01, resulting in a 700% surprise. The revenue of $66.7 million also surpassed projections by 4.94%. This performance highlights the company's effective cost management and strategic focus on high-growth sectors.

Market Reaction

Despite the earnings beat, nLIGHT's stock declined by 5.62% during regular trading hours, closing at $31.50. However, the stock rebounded by 4.57% in aftermarket trading, reaching $32.94. This volatility reflects investor caution, possibly due to broader market trends or sector-specific concerns.

Outlook & Guidance

For the fourth quarter of 2025, nLIGHT projects revenue between $72 million and $78 million, with a gross margin expected to range from 27% to 32%. The company anticipates continued growth in its directed energy and laser sensing markets, supported by multiple booked and high-probability programs for 2026.

Executive Commentary

CEO Scott Keeney emphasized the global urgency to implement nLIGHT's technology in new ways, particularly in directed energy applications. CFO Joe Corso highlighted the company's strong pipeline in directed energy and the expected growth in the amplifier business.

Risks and Challenges

• Supply chain disruptions could impact production timelines.
• Market saturation in commercial sectors may limit growth opportunities.
• Economic uncertainties could affect defense budget allocations.
• Technological advancements by competitors could pressure market share.
• Regulatory changes in international markets might pose compliance challenges.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the timeline for the HELSI-2 program, with executives confirming its completion by 2026. Questions also focused on the company's strategies to offset potential revenue declines and the ongoing development of amplifier technology.

Full transcript - nLIGHT Inc (LASR) Q3 2025:

Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us, and welcome to the nLIGHT fourth quarter 2025 earnings call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand. If you have dialed into today's call, please press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute. I will now hand the conference over to John Marchetti, VP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. John, please go ahead.

John Marchetti, VP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations, nLIGHT: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss nLIGHT's Quarter 2025 earnings results. I'm John Marchetti, nLIGHT's VP of Corporate Development and the Head of Investor Relations. With me on the call today are Scott Keeney, nLIGHT's Chairman and CEO, and Joe Corso, nLIGHT's CFO. Today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements, including financial projections and plans for our business, some of which are beyond our control, including the risks and uncertainties described from time to time in our SEC filings. Our results may differ materially from those projected on today's call, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement except as required by law. During the call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures.

We have provided reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings release and in our earnings presentation, both of which can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website. I will now turn the call over to nLIGHT's Chairman and CEO, Scott Keeney.

Scott Keeney, Chairman and CEO, nLIGHT: Thank you, John. Q3 represented another solid quarter of execution for nLIGHT, with total revenue at the high end of our guidance range and both gross margin and adjusted EBITDA beating our expectations. Quarter 3 of $67 million grew 19% year over year, and we were once again driven by record aerospace and defense revenue of $46 million, with defense product sales growing more than 70% year over year. I am particularly pleased with the expansion of our product gross margin, which came in at a record 41% and increased from 29% in the same quarter a year ago. Our adjusted EBITDA was also above our expectations at more than $7 million in the quarter. The expansion in our gross margin and the subsequent growth in our adjusted EBITDA demonstrate the leverage that is inherent in our operating model.

In aerospace and defense, we remain focused on two key markets: directed energy and laser sensing. Revenue from both markets outperformed our expectations in the quarter. In directed energy, we are uniquely positioned with our vertically integrated and industry-leading high-power laser technology developed over the past two decades and spanning the entire technology stack, from chips to components to full laser systems and beam directors. All of which are designed and manufactured in the U.S., have generated revenue at nearly every level of vertical integration in the directed energy market, and we have established ourselves as one of the most comprehensive suppliers to the U.S. government, other prime contractors, and foreign allies. During the third quarter, we continue to make solid progress on our HELSI-2 program. As a reminder, this is a $171 million program to develop a 1-megawatt high-energy laser with a completion date expected in 2026.

The shipment of critical components towards the HELSI-2 program was a significant driver of our record defense product revenue in the quarter and is expected to be a substantial contributor to growth through the remainder of the year and into 2026. We continue to transition our latest generation of amplifier products into advanced production by leveraging nLIGHT's experienced manufacturing teams and implementing quality and control processes. This transition, while not without risks, is progressing well and is critical as we continue to optimize our amplifier production line for higher volumes. Our work on the Army's DEM SHORAD short-range air defense program is nearing completion, and we look forward to delivering this 50-kilowatt high-energy laser and beam director to our partner. Once delivery is completed, the system will begin field testing. Overall interest in U.S.

Directed energy programs remains high, particularly for counter-UAS applications, and we expect new contracts to be awarded in the coming quarters from different agencies as part of the President's Golden Dome Executive Order, which specifically highlights non-kinetic missile defense capabilities as an area for development. With a mandate to build these systems in the United States, we believe we are well positioned to benefit from these efforts over the coming years, and we are hopeful that the coming quarters will provide additional details on the scope and timing of these initiatives. We have also continued to have success in the international markets for directed energy. We began shipping to a new international customer last quarter, and we have a growing pipeline of new global opportunities as allied nations look to accelerate directed energy programs for cost-effective counter-UAS and other threats. Our laser sensing markets are also performing well.

Our laser sensing products include missile guidance, proximity detection, range finding, and countermeasures, and we have been incorporated into several significant and long-running defense programs, all of which are poised to grow in 2026. During the third quarter, we signed a new $50 million contract for an existing long-running missile program that incorporates one of our laser sensing products. nLIGHT has been a long-term supplier into this program, which our customer expects to remain a key priority associated with the nation's munitions restocking efforts. Our historical performance on these programs and our early success on multiple classified programs has increased both the number of prospects and the size of our sensing pipeline. In addition, further opportunities under Golden Dome initiatives have emerged and could also become significant contributors to our growth in 2026 and beyond.

Commercial revenue was slightly ahead of our expectations at $21.2 million on a sequential increase in microfabrication sales and relatively flat results in our industrial markets. We have been pleased with the stability of our microfabrication markets year to date and have been encouraged by the growth in our advanced manufacturing products, where we see alignment with our aerospace and defense customers, and our technology remains differentiated. Let me now turn the call over to Joe to discuss our third-quarter financial results.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Thank you, Scott. Our third-quarter results were characterized by another quarter of strong execution. Healthy revenue growth, a favorable mix of business, and continued execution from our manufacturing and operations teams drove meaningful upside to our gross margin. That upside, combined with operating expense discipline, resulted in significant improvement to profitability and cash flow, demonstrating the leverage that is inherent in our model. Total revenue in the third quarter was $66.7 million, an increase of 19% compared to $56.1 million in the third quarter of 2024 and up 8% compared to the second quarter of 2025. Aerospace and defense revenue was a record $45.6 million in the quarter, up 50% year over year and 12% sequentially. A&D growth was driven by record aerospace and defense products revenue, which grew 71% year over year and 32% compared to last quarter.

Development revenue of $19.1 million grew 28% year over year as we continued to execute on multiple directed energy programs. The quarter-over-quarter decline of 8% was the result of several smaller programs having been completed in the prior quarter. We expect A&D revenue to continue to grow sequentially in the fourth quarter. Third-quarter revenue from our commercial markets, which includes industrial and microfabrication, was modestly ahead of our expectations at $21.2 million, a decrease of 18% year over year, but up slightly compared to last quarter. Revenue from our microfabrication markets was in line with our expectations at $11.6 million, while revenue of $9.6 million from our industrial markets was slightly better than expected as an increase in demand for our additive manufacturing products offset continued declines in cutting and welding.

While we are pleased with the overall stability that we saw in our commercial markets in the third quarter, we do not believe that the overall demand picture has significantly changed from what we described in prior quarters. Total gross margin in the third quarter was 31.1% compared to 22.4% in the third quarter of 2023 and 29.9% last quarter. Product gross margin in the second quarter was a record 41% compared to 28.8% in the third quarter of 2023 and 38.5% last quarter. Third-quarter product gross margin was positively impacted by a favorable customer and product mix driven by record revenue from our A&D markets and an overall increase in volume. Development gross margin was 6.4% compared to 4.7% in the same quarter a year ago and 13.1% last quarter.

The sequential decrease in development gross margin was largely the result of some smaller, higher-margin programs that finished in the prior quarter and did not contribute to the third-quarter results. Going forward, we expect development gross margin to remain in the 8% range. GAAP operating expenses were $28.1 million in the third quarter compared to $24.4 million in the third quarter of 2024 and $22.7 million in the second quarter of 2025. Included in our third-quarter GAAP operating expenses were higher stock-based compensation expenses associated with previously announced performance shares and a restructuring charge of approximately $1.7 million as we further reduced our activities in China and in cutting and welding. Non-GAAP operating expenses were $17.5 million in the quarter, down from $18.3 million in the third quarter of 2024 and up from $16.8 million last quarter.

We expect non-GAAP OpEx to remain in the $18 million range in the fourth quarter. GAAP net loss for the third quarter was $6.9 million, or $0.14 per share, compared to a net loss of $10.3 million, or $0.21 per share in the same quarter a year ago, and a loss of $3.6 million, or $0.07 per share in the second quarter of 2025. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the third quarter was $4.3 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, compared to a non-GAAP net loss of $3.7 million, or $0.08 per share in the third quarter of 2024, and non-GAAP net income of $2.9 million, or $0.06 per diluted share last quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was a positive $7.1 million compared to a loss of approximately $1 million in the same quarter last year and a positive $5.6 million in the second quarter of 2025. We ended the third quarter with total cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and investments of $116 million. We generated $5.2 million in cash flow from operations despite continuing to invest in working capital ahead of growth, and we were free cash flow positive in the quarter. Turning to guidance. Based on the information available today, we expect revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025 to be in the range of $72 million-$78 million. The midpoint of $75 million includes approximately $55 million of product revenue and $20 million of development revenue.

We expect sequential growth in A&D in the fourth quarter, and we expect full year 2025 A&D revenue growth to exceed our prior outlook for A&D growth of at least 40% year over year. Overall gross margin in the fourth quarter is expected to be in the range of 27%-32%, with product gross margin in the range of 34%-39% and development gross margin of approximately 8%. As we've mentioned previously, as a vertically integrated manufacturing business, gross margin is largely dependent on production volumes and absorption of fixed manufacturing costs. Finally, we expect adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2025 to be in the range of $6 million-$11 million. With that, I will turn over the call to Operator for questions.

Conference Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand now. If you have dialed in to today's call, please press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Greg Palm with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT0: Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions and congrats on the results. I was wondering first if you could just address HELSI-2. I mean, based on the results, the guide, I mean, is there a chance that you're pulling ahead the completion date here? I know you talked about completion in 2026, but curious if that timeline has changed at all just based on the volumes that you're able to complete.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Hey, Greg. Scott here. Thanks for the question. No, we're on track is the bottom line. We will announce progress results when we are able to do so, but we're on track for 2026.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT0: Yep. Okay. As it relates to product, you are guiding revenue up quite a bit sequentially, but gross margins down. I know you are coming off of a pretty tough compare, I guess, sequentially when you put up 40+% product gross margins. Just can you give us a little bit more color of what is going on? It does not sound like mix is going to change all that much.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yeah. No, Greg, thanks for the question. As we've talked about in the past, you can have some pretty, what seem like are pretty big swings from a gross margin perspective when you're still talking about revenues at the levels that we are at. Really not much in terms of Q3 to Q4 on the gross margin guide. Probably 150 or 200 basis points of it is related to actually freight and duties, right, as we've had the higher cost of materials that are going to, we're now going to start to feel in Q4. The rest is really just mix within each of our end markets. The mix within defense, the mix within commercial can change in any given quarter. There are just a handful of other items that, as we forecast in any given quarter, that are there.

Generally speaking, we're pleased that gross margin has expanded, and it remains really a function of three things: higher volume, mix where we are, and then just overall how we're leveraging the factory. We're pretty happy with where we were in Q3 and not much to think about for us in Q4.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT0: Sure. Okay. All right. Congrats. Good on the progress.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Thank you.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ruben Roy with Stifel. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Sad Singh, Analyst, Stifel: Hey, guys. This is Sad Singh on for Ruben Roy. First off, congrats. You guys are past your break-even point, which I think was $55 million-$60 million and turning profitable. So congrats on that.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Thank you.

Sad Singh, Analyst, Stifel: HELSI-2, I think if I do the math, is, you said it earlier, $171 million. Contract with. Three-year estimated timeline. Annualized, that's about $57 million ceiling per year, which is about $14 million lower than what you're operating on on a trailing 12-month basis within aerospace and defense products. Two questions there, and then I have a follow-up. Seems like a fixed firm price contract with moves you're making on amplifiers. Excuse me. Can you give us some sense of how much incremental margin benefit you're seeing from that this quarter and expect to see maybe through the course of next year as you're ramping down on that contract? The second part to this is, as that contract ramps down, do you see.

Sensing tied to Golden Dome and the classified programs and maybe international sales more than offset that HELSI-2 contract revenue loss, which I imagine will be probably starting second half of 2026?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Okay. So there's a lot there. Help me if I don't get it all right. I can follow up. I would say on the HELSI-2 contract first, it's a good way to look at it, right? It's a $171 million contract, but it's not going to be recognized linearly, right? It's a firm, excuse me, it's a cost-plus type contract. It really depends on the type of activities that we are engaged in at any given period of time during that contract. You shouldn't think about that linearly. Certainly, it is a big driver of the A&D products revenue that we have been generating. Amplifiers are the key component that we are selling into that contract. Now, more generally, as we think about products gross margin expansion, we've really focused on products that enable us to drive incremental gross margins of meaningfully north of 50%.

Amplifiers and other products that we are selling are meeting that today, and we expect that to continue to expand. I think the last part of your question just around the trajectory of HELSI-2 into 2026, you're absolutely right, right? At some point in the back half of 2026, we'll start to see the revenue that we're generating from HELSI-2, everything around HELSI-2 start to trail off. We've got plenty of other programs, both in directed energy and in laser sensing, that will make up for that reduction in the second-half revenue.

Sad Singh, Analyst, Stifel: Okay. Thank you. Very helpful. The second follow-up I have is on DEM SHORAD, which I guess is now ramping down, if I'm not wrong, and please correct me if I am. It's an R&D contract, which means it probably sits in advanced development. That said, advanced development seems to be ramping quite nicely also on a trailing 12-month basis. What's driving that growth? I guess to what degree should we look at that as a leading indicator for future sales on the A&D laser products, as you're mentioning, into 2026, 2027, let's say?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: You are correct that DEM SHORAD is ramping down. We are at the very end stages of delivering that product to the customer. That is not really contributing meaningfully at all to revenue this quarter, nor will it contribute to revenue going forward. The advanced development segment of our business includes all of the development revenue that we do, including HELSI-2 and other programs. While not all of the programs that we are working on that are classified as advanced development go into what will ultimately end up as programs of record, it is a good indicator that the activities that we have in directed energy and in laser sensing are putting us in a good position so that when those programs do transition or there are new programs where there are opportunities to become programs of record, we are well positioned to capture them.

You can't draw a line directly from our advanced development revenue to what long-term defense product revenue will be.

Sad Singh, Analyst, Stifel: Understood. Thank you and congrats again.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Thanks.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Jim Ricchiuti from Needham & Company. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Jimmy, maybe unmute.

Conference Operator: Mr. Ricchiuti, please use the unmute.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst, Needham & Company: Apologies. The question I had is just relating to the previous question. If HELSI-2 does wind down in the second half of the year, you've talked about a pretty full pipeline. When would you have to see new orders come in to be able to offset some of the hole that we could see from having completed HELSI-2? In other words, do you anticipate orders coming in in the next couple of quarters that would allow you to fill a potential hole related to HELSI-2 in the back half of next year?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Jim, based on what we are working on today, the hole is already filled. What is somewhat dependent upon timing of bookings and how quickly we can get to work on a handful of new programs will determine how much we grow in 2026.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst, Needham & Company: Got it. Could you also maybe just clarify? I just maybe misheard. On the laser sensing contract that you alluded to, is this a follow-on piece of business?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yes, is the short answer. It is an ongoing program of record that we have been supporting for over a decade.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst, Needham & Company: Okay. Scott, this basically just extends that.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yep.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst, Needham & Company: Okay. And then one final question. I know all of the questions have been around the A&D business, but it's interesting to see, I guess, what, a second quarter of sequential improvement in the microfabrication area. You're characterizing it as stabilizing. What is leading to some of the stabilization? Where's it coming from?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yeah. It's coming from. Certainly in microfabrication, that has always been a business that is difficult for us to predict. It's largely book and ship in the quarter. It's a really long tail of customers. The last couple of quarters, we've seen some stabilization in that business. It's difficult to point to one or even two things that are driving that business, but we're pleased to see stabilization there. Similarly, on the industrial side of our business, the quarters have been, frankly, a little bit better than we had expected, which is a welcome development for us. What we'll say is our overall view of the commercial business as we go into 2026 is the same as we've been saying now for a couple of quarters, right? That business is expected to again decline in 2026.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst, Needham & Company: Okay. Just with respect to microfabrication, the seasonality of that business tends to fall off a little bit in Q1, but the levels that we're seeing Q2, Q3, is that a reasonable level? Moving aside from the seasonality we might see in Q1?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yeah. Jim, you're absolutely right. That is probably the most seasonal of our businesses. In the last couple of quarters, we've seen that plus or minus $10 million of revenue. I think that a good range for us is probably $8 million-$12 million. We don't have better visibility than that. Obviously, China microfab business has declined precipitously over the last couple of years, and we've seen continued sequential declines in that business as well.

Jim Ricchiuti, Analyst, Needham & Company: Thank you.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Thanks, Jim.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Keith Howsen with North Coast Research. Apologies. Your line is open.

Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. Appreciate it. Congratulations on that great quarter, guys. I think I heard you guys say the amplifier transition, it continues to progress. One, I guess, is that correct? Once that's complete, how should we see that reflected in results? Will it make for more efficient and easier recognition of revenue, or is it going to be lower cost, or what's going to be the financial statement impact when the transition is complete?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: I'm not sure the amplifier transition is not complete per se. I think what is going to be complete is the amplifiers that are delivered into one particular program, which is HELSI-2, and that will happen over the course of 2026. Generally speaking, we have a lot of programs into which we are delivering amplifiers domestically. As we've said the last couple of quarters, there's also opportunities for us that we are working on with a host of allies internationally. We expect our amplifier business to continue to grow. That is one of the reasons that you are starting to see some of the margin expansion is due to the fact that we are selling higher volumes of amplifiers. At the same time, we're working hard to take what is a really difficult product that is pushing the.

Limitations of physics and make it more manufacturable. I think over time, you're going to see both revenue growth and margin expansion as we start to mature our ability to manufacture those amplifiers.

Speaker 2: That's helpful. Appreciate it. Your structuring charges in China cutting and welding, is that more to right-size these businesses based on your expectations going forward, or what's the reason behind that?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yeah. No, that's exactly what it is, right? I mean, we were operating in Shanghai for a very long time, not an easy transition to move assembly of our lasers from Shanghai to Fabernet and to the U.S. There are lots of ongoing support activities that are required to do that. You are seeing some of that in that restructuring charge. There is also a bit of expectation that the cutting and welding business are going to continue to decline. We want to make sure that we are right-sizing our investments for our expectations of those markets going forward.

Speaker 2: Appreciate it. I'm not sure this is a true statement or not, but is there an opportunity for you guys in the counter-drone technology space?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. That is one of the big applications for directed energy.

Speaker 2: Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. We're still relatively early innings in that area as well, but obviously, it gets a lot of press that we read today.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Correct. Directed energy goes well beyond counter-drones.

Speaker 2: Yep. Yep. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Thanks, Keith.

Conference Operator: Reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand now. If you have dialed into today's call, please press star nine to raise your hand and then star six to unmute. We have a follow-up question from Greg Palm. Craig-Hallum Capital Group, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT0: Yeah. Thanks. You said something that I thought was pretty important in terms of programs next year that could offset or that could make up the absence of HELSI-2. So I just want to make sure we're clear. Are those programs that have been booked, or is that stuff still in the pipeline?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Those are programs that have been booked, Greg.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT0: Okay. I'm just curious. Can you talk a little bit about, are those directed energy? Are those laser sensing? I don't know if I missed it, but the two confidential laser sensing programs, one of them was supposed to go to LRIP by the end of this year. Is that still the case? Has that begun? What's the status of the second one?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Good. Let's see. Your first question is, the work for 2026 that is key that we're highlighting is in both directed energy and in sensing first. Let's see. Your second question was around.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT0: Yeah. The two laser sensing programs that you, the confidential ones that we've been talking about for the past, well, multiple quarters.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yeah. The summary is they're both progressing. I want to be pretty sensitive to the specifics of the timeline, but they're both progressing. It supports the outlook that we're providing generally in the business.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT0: Okay. To be clear, going back to my first question, there are programs. These are not the programs that are necessarily supposed to offset. It could help, but there are new additional programs that have been won, booked, that are going to help offset that lost HELSI-2 business.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yeah. Gregg, let me parse it a little bit more finely for you. There are programs that we are on today that are not HELSI-2 that we expect to continue to grow. There are new programs that we've won, right, that will plug the hole that we will see as HELSI-2 trails off. Those are both directed energy and laser sensing. There are other very high probability of win-and-go programs that we expect in 2026 that will drive growth in defense beyond what it is today. Hopefully, that helps.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT0: Yeah. Okay. All right. Appreciate the call.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: You got it.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Brian O'Reilly from Raymond James. You may need to press star six to unmute.

Speaker 4: Hey, great. Thanks a lot for taking my questions, guys. Really nice job on the quarter.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Thanks, Brian.

Speaker 4: I'd like to maybe talk a little bit when I've spent some time in DC the last few weeks, and it just seems like there's a lot of opportunities around directed energy. Could you maybe give us a thought on the pipeline, both domestically and globally, and then maybe talk about your capacity because it seems like demand is pretty vibrant right now?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yeah, that's right, Brian. I've been spending a lot of time in DC also, and I think there is a lot of new work that's going on. It's a little frustrating, obviously, with the details around the shutdown and on some of the details, but at the senior level, we are seeing very good engagement across all levels, whether it be from the Pentagon to the services. Really across the breadth of directed energy from the lower power systems through the higher power systems. We are seeing continued progress in the U.S. programs, and that is supported. It's reinforced by also some of the international programs. I think over the last quarter, we've seen news out of Israel of the demonstrations of the success of Iron Beam. Out of the U.K., we've seen success out of Dragonfire, and there have been other international efforts that.

Both are opportunities for us as we engage internationally, but they also have played a role in reinforcing what's going on in the U.S. High level, yeah, directed energy remains a very important area for us in addition to sensing.

Speaker 4: Okay. Fantastic. Is there any thoughts on the urgency with some of the things that are happening in Europe? Do you see more rapid adoption there over the next few quarters, particularly with the government shutdown, or it seems like the domestic market has accelerated a lot when I talk to a lot of the customers and look at some of their demand outlooks over the next year or so?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yeah, I think that's right. I think in the coming weeks, you'll learn more about the acquisition reform that's being promulgated to address that. I think we're all eager to see some of that formally launched. To change the way that at least the U.S. pursues procurement to more rapidly implement some of these systems. I think we will see some of that. I think there is urgency around the world, actually, to get the technology implemented in new ways.

Speaker 4: That's fantastic. Thanks for taking my questions, guys.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Thanks, Brian.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Troy Jensen. Mr. Jensen, please press star six to unmute.

Speaker 8: Troy, we're not picking you up.

Speaker 4: Sorry, guys. Can you hear me?

Speaker 8: Yeah.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yep. Go ahead, Troy.

Speaker 4: All right. Yeah. Sorry about that. Hey, so first of all, congrats to another great print for you guys. Just a quick question. I'm getting lots of questions on the development revenues here, but can you just give us the number of customers that are in your development product line or revenue line?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: We're probably working in total on a dozen, just plus or minus a dozen programs. They're all obviously different sizes and at different periods of time, but that's a pretty good number.

Speaker 4: Okay. All right. Thank you. And then just on the sensing stuff, as you were going through your prepared remarks, I kind of felt like you're upticking on that. I'd guess most of the strength in A&D over this past year or so has been on the directed energy side. Would that be a true statement? Do you feel like you're upticking, or are these contracts just kind of sustaining the strength of it?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: On the sensing side, Troy, you mean?

Speaker 4: Yes. Sensing specifically. Yep.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yeah. Yes. You read that correctly. I think that. Directed energy, there's a greater awareness of. The set of applications in directed energy and what's going on. Sensing, it gets a little more challenging to describe how lasers are, I would say, supplementing, augmenting radar and other systems, but that is a very important area and listed as one of the critical. Technologies by the Pentagon and. One that we're very well positioned for.

Speaker 4: Awesome. All right, guys. That is all I got. Keep up the good work.

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Thank you. Thanks, Troy.

Conference Operator: We have a follow-up question from the line of Ruben Roy with Stifel. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6: Hey, guys. Me again. Just trying to understand. Your comment on HELSI being an R&D contract makes sense why it's an advanced dev. It is my mistake there. The jump up in revenue really looks like it's coming from your products within A&D. I know you guided advanced dev to $25 million next quarter. I'm assuming that's mostly HELSI. Can you maybe talk through the A&D product side and just help us understand what drove this jump this quarter? I think someone asked whether it was government shutdown or are you expecting this to sort of sequentially improve?

Joe Corso, CFO, nLIGHT: Yeah. We are expecting A&D products to continue to improve. We sell a variety of products that are booked as in the products segment of our financial statements. Amplifiers that we sell into the HELSI-2 program, which is a cost-plus development program, those amplifiers are reflected in our revenue as product revenue. There are also laser sensing products that are being sold that are A&D product revenue. You start to look at that, and that's why you see the growth in the A&D product side of the revenue.

Speaker 6: That makes sense. Thank you. That's all I had.

Conference Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to John Marchetti for closing remarks.

John Marchetti, VP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations, nLIGHT: Thanks, everyone, for joining us this afternoon. As always, thank you for your continued interest in nLIGHT. We will be participating in a number of conferences over the next several months. We look forward to speaking with everybody as we continue to go through the quarter. Thank you again for joining us today.

Conference Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

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