Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $435.10, but opened at $473.12. Lumentum shares last traded at $484.7160, with a volume of 2,933,764 shares traded.

The technology company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $646.74 million. Lumentum had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 11.95%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 65.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Lumentum has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.150-2.350 EPS.

Key Stories Impacting Lumentum

Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results materially beat expectations — EPS $1.67 vs. $1.41 est and revenue $665.5M (up ~65.5% Y/Y); management highlighted strong components and systems demand and big margin gains. Lumentum Announces Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Company issued above-consensus Q3 guidance (EPS 2.15–2.35; revenue guidance implying >$805M in some analyst write-ups), citing accelerating AI-related demand — a clear catalyst for near-term revenue and margin upside. Lumentum expects Q3 2026 revenue to surpass $805M as AI demand accelerates
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts quickly raised targets and ratings after the print — multiple firms (Mizuho, Rosenblatt, Stifel, BofA) lifted price targets and some issued buy/outperform calls, supporting further upside. Lumentum Analysts Increase Their Forecasts Following Better-Than-Expected Q2 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Lumentum to a Rank #1 (Strong Buy), adding to institutional and retail interest. Lumentum (LITE) Moves to Strong Buy: Rationale Behind the Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Full earnings call transcript and slide deck are available for investors digging into segment-level detail and management commentary. Q2 Slide Deck / Press Release
• Negative Sentiment: Some caution remains — a few shops (e.g., BofA) kept neutral ratings despite higher targets, and valuation is rich (P/E >300 on trailing numbers), which could temper gains if growth or execution slips. Analyst Price Target Coverage

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LITE. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Lumentum to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Lumentum to $520.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho raised their price target on Lumentum to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Lumentum from $145.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Lumentum from $181.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lumentum presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $409.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jae Kim sold 170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.00, for a total transaction of $41,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 38,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,446,400. This represents a 0.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Pamela Fletcher sold 3,421 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.53, for a total transaction of $935,746.13. Following the sale, the director owned 10,561 shares in the company, valued at $2,888,750.33. This trade represents a 24.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,612 shares of company stock valued at $7,317,398. 0.43% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LITE. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 36.8% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 945 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lumentum by 109.9% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 6,275 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 9.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 8,139 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $507,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 14.1% in the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 19,538 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,857,000 after purchasing an additional 2,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Lumentum by 50.2% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 16,609 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,579,000 after buying an additional 5,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.05% of the company’s stock.

Lumentum Stock Up 6.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $32.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.65 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $359.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.54.

Lumentum Company Profile

Lumentum Holdings Inc, headquartered in San Jose, California, is a leading provider of photonic technologies that enable high-speed optical communication networks and advanced industrial applications. The company designs and manufactures a broad range of lasers, optical modules and subsystems tailored to the evolving requirements of telecommunications carriers, cloud data centers and enterprise networking.

Its core product portfolio includes tunable and fixed-wavelength laser transmitters, coherent optical engines, transceivers for long-haul, metro and data center interconnects, as well as test and measurement instruments.