nLIGHT (LASR) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and nLIGHT published the results on November 5, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. nLIGHT reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and non-GAAP, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• In 2026 nLIGHT began reporting two end markets: Defense & Space (formerly Aerospace and Defense) and Advanced Manufacturing (its former Industrial and Microfabrication markets). Prior periods were recast; total revenue and segment reporting did not change.
• Q3 2026 included $7.5 million of restructuring charges, mainly from shutting down nLIGHT's business operations in China.

Source: nLIGHT Q3 2026 results, November 5, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How nLIGHT splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• nLIGHT's Laser Products revenue was $48.0 million in Q3 2026, up 1% from $47.6 million in Q3 2025, 65% of total revenue.
• nLIGHT's Advanced Development revenue was $25.7 million in Q3 2026, up 34% from $19.1 million in Q3 2025, 35% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q3 2026 release, nLIGHT said:

“For the fourth quarter of 2026, nLIGHT expects revenues to be in the range of $84 million to $90 million.”

“The midpoint of $87 million includes Products revenue of approximately $63 million and Advanced Development revenue of approximately $24 million.”

“Due to ongoing supply chain constraints, nLIGHT's fourth quarter revenue guidance excludes approximately $15 million of product revenue that nLIGHT would have expected to ship in the fourth quarter but is now expected to be delivered in the first half of 2027.”

“nLIGHT expects Adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $12 million to $18 million.”

Source: nLIGHT Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Nov 5, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the LASR forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

GAAP revenues and GAAP diluted EPS, each as first reported in that quarter's release.

We do not hold a confirmed date for nLIGHT's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Nov 5, 2026

nLIGHT's revenue was $73.8 million in Q3 2026, up 10.5% from $66.7 million a year earlier, and above the high end of its guidance range according to its CEO. nLIGHT reports two segments: Laser Products, which brought in $48.0 million (65.1% of revenue), and Advanced Development, its research and development contract work, which brought in $25.7 million (34.9%), up 34.4%. (nLIGHT Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026; nLIGHT Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 6, 2026)

By end market, Defense & Space was $52.5 million, or 71.1% of revenue, up 15.2%, and Advanced Manufacturing $21.3 million, up 0.5%. nLIGHT says the defense increase came from higher unit sales of directed energy laser products and laser components for defense programs, plus progress on research and development contracts. All Advanced Development revenue falls in Defense & Space. In Advanced Manufacturing, higher sales of semiconductor and fiber lasers to additive manufacturing customers were partly offset by lower sales of fiber lasers for cutting and welding. (nLIGHT Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 6, 2026)

nLIGHT's revenue is concentrated in U.S. defense. The U.S. Government accounted for 39% of revenue in the quarter, against 35% a year earlier, not counting customers who resell exclusively to the government, and RTX Corporation for 11%. By region, North America was $52.1 million, EMEA $11.9 million and Asia Pacific $9.7 million. (nLIGHT Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 6, 2026)

nLIGHT makes high-power semiconductor lasers and fiber lasers that customers build into their own laser systems and manufacturing tools, along with high energy pulsed fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers and beam combination and control systems for directed energy and laser sensing in defense. (nLIGHT Form 10-K, 2025, Feb 27, 2026)

nLIGHT's GAAP net loss was $7.2 million, or $0.12 per share, in Q3 2026, against $6.9 million, or $0.14, a year earlier. Non-GAAP net income was $10.2 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, against $4.3 million, or $0.08. nLIGHT's non-GAAP figures add back stock-based compensation ($9.9 million in the quarter), amortization of purchased intangibles and restructuring charges ($7.5 million). (nLIGHT Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026)

The restructuring charge came from a plan to shut down nLIGHT's business operations in China: $4.5 million of employee termination costs and $2.4 million of write-downs of long-lived assets and customer receivables. nLIGHT notes there is no income tax effect on its stock-based compensation add-back because of the full valuation allowance in the United States. (nLIGHT Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 6, 2026; nLIGHT Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026)

Weighted average shares were 57,895 thousand in the quarter, against 50,288 thousand a year earlier, after a public offering that raised $192.2 million net of underwriting discounts in the first nine months of 2026. nLIGHT also repaid its $20.0 million line of credit. (nLIGHT Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

nLIGHT gives a quarterly outlook in its release. For Q4 2026 it expects revenue of $84 million to $90 million, with the $87 million midpoint made up of about $63 million of Products revenue and $24 million of Advanced Development revenue, and Adjusted EBITDA of $12 million to $18 million. It expects overall gross margin of 30% to 36%, with Products at 40% to 46% and Advanced Development at about 8%. (nLIGHT Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026)

nLIGHT said the Q4 2026 revenue outlook excludes about $15 million of product revenue it would have expected to ship in the quarter, which supply chain constraints have pushed into the first half of 2027. (nLIGHT Q3 2026 release, Nov 5, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover nLIGHT, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones nLIGHT's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning LASR is on is LASR a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the LASR forecast, and what the company does is on the nLIGHT (LASR) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document nLIGHT published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.