IPG Photonics
An American maker of fiber lasers, the beams that cut and weld metal in factories, which has started selling a laser that shoots down small drones.
The scores
Growth2/4 ↑
Not 3: three quarters of growth follow three years of decline, and trailing sales are still 27% below 2021.
Business quality2/4 ↓
Not 3: Chinese rivals undercut on price and lead share in China, and the margin fell from 25% to 1%.
Financial position4/4 →
No debt and $904M of cash and investments, a quarter of the market value, even after Lumibird.
Execution record3/4 ↑
Not 4: beat guidance two quarters running, but lost a patent fight and defence sales fell after launch.
Per share capture3/4 →
Not 4: no new shares issued and the cash kept for shareholders, but the 2026 buyback is unused and Lumibird is priced fully.
Potential2/4 →
Not 3: the defence upside is one $10M order, and the margin recovery is a target rather than a contract.
Risk profile3/4 →
Not 4: a net cash balance sheet and spread customers, but China is 29% of sales in a price war.
Valuation2/4 →
Not 3: the price needs operating margin near 17%, a level last seen in 2023.
Evidence quality3/4 →
Not 4: the financials are filed, but defence revenue is undisclosed and the China share is one industry source.
If it works 1.1× · if it fails you keep about 95%.
The Verdict
We rate IPG Photonics neutral. It makes industrial lasers, and the business is mixed: it has a large pile of cash and no debt, but Chinese rivals have cut prices so hard that its operating margin fell from about a quarter of sales to about 1%. The price is full: it already assumes margins climb most of the way back. As a bet it is defensive: if the drone-killing laser becomes a real business, the shares gain only about 5%, because the line is so small; if it fails, almost nothing is lost, since the factory business and the cash roughly cover today's price.
The long caseCheap drones make costly missiles a poor answer, so armies want weapons with a low cost per shot; a small laser that proves itself could win repeat orders.
The evidence under this - 8 claims
The Lumibird Medical purchase will spend about $349M of it in cash, with up to about $58M more if the earnout is paid.
2024 carried large goodwill and asset impairments and 2022 a Russia-related write-down, so the GAAP series understates the underlying margin in those years; adjusted margins are steadier but still fell sharply.
IPG's China sales rose 19.1% in 2025 to $291.9M, so it is not simply losing volume there.
- Revenue may grow: analysts expect about $1.24B in 2027 and Lumibird adds about $130M, which would lower the margin needed to roughly 14%.
- Fifteen is a stated multiple, not a measured one; at twenty times the margin needed falls to about 12%.
Management said North American revenue rose sequentially in the June quarter partly on defence sales, so the year-over-year fall may reflect a lumpy 2025 comparison.
One army contract alone is worth about $93M a year, so a single programme win could exceed the big win; none has gone to a 3-kilowatt system.
After the Lumibird purchase about $349M less cash remains, which lifts the company value to about $3.0B against about $1.2B of combined sales, still about 2.5 times.
The company
IPG Photonics makes fiber lasers: light produced inside a thin strand of glass and delivered down a flexible cable. Factories use them to cut sheet metal, weld car bodies and batteries, mark parts and clean surfaces. The buyer is usually a company that builds cutting or welding machines and puts IPG's laser inside.
IPG makes the key parts itself, from the light-producing chips to the glass fibre. Its lead today is in the most powerful and precise lasers; ordinary cutting lasers have become a product bought mostly on price.
The evidence under this - 2 claims
- Raycus reports the first commercial 200-kilowatt sale and 135% growth in 10-kilowatt-plus units in 2024, so the high-power lead is contested too.
- Trumpf won patent rulings against IPG's adjustable-mode welding lasers (C21).
How it makes money
IPG earns money selling lasers and laser systems to machine builders and manufacturers. In 2025 about 86% of sales came from factory work like cutting and welding, about 7% from medical lasers and about 7% from science, chip-making and defence, where the drone laser sits.
Orders are short: the year-end backlog was about seven months of sales, mostly cancellable. Buying Lumibird Medical, an eye-laser maker, adds about an eighth to sales.
The evidence under this - 5 claims
The bound is a 2025 figure, set before the Lockheed shipments began in the June 2026 quarter, so 2026 defence sales could sit nearer it than the falling trend suggests.
Where the money comes from, stream by stream
| Stream | Share of sales (FY2025) | How it earns it |
|---|---|---|
| High-power CW lasers | 30.8% | Multi-kilowatt continuous lasers sold to machine builders for sheet cutting and welding; the line Chinese rivals have priced down. |
| Medium-power CW lasers | 8.8% | Lower-power continuous lasers for welding, additive manufacturing and fine processing, sold to machine builders and manufacturers. |
| Pulsed lasers | 14.3% | Pulsed fiber lasers for marking, engraving, cleaning and micromachining, mostly through equipment makers. |
| Quasi-CW lasers | 5.2% | High-peak-power lasers for spot welding and drilling, including battery and electronics work. |
| Laser and non-laser systems | 14.6% | Complete machines and robotic cells sold to end users: welding, cleaning (cleanLASER), cutting cells, and the CROSSBOW counter-drone system. |
| Other lasers, amplifiers, service, parts and accessories | 26.3% | Medical and scientific lasers, amplifiers, processing heads, chillers, spare parts and service on the installed base. |
Who runs it
Mark Gitin, hired from a rival laser group, has run IPG since mid-2024; Tim Mammen has been finance chief since 2000. The founder's trusts still control about a third of the votes, through directors acting as trustees, and they have been selling. Gitin owns little himself. His bonus rides on sales and profit, his shares on growth in sales and profit and on tight stock and receivables, none on how much profit each dollar invested earns.
The evidence under this - 4 claims
The trusts' voting power is not the officers' own money: IP Fibre Devices is 48% owned by Gapontsev Trust I and only 8% each by Scherbakov and Samartsev, and the trusts have sold since under 10b5-1 plans (C29).
- The 2022 PSUs, on organic revenue growth and adjusted operating margin, paid nothing, and the bonus met target in only one of three years, so the plan has bitten.
- Each later PSU tranche's growth goal is set off the prior year's actual result, so after a weak year the bar resets lower; nothing pays on return on capital or the share price relative to peers.
Why it wins, and who could beat it
Why customers come back
IPG's protection was supposed to be cost: making every part itself should let it build a laser more cheaply than anyone. That held while it was far bigger than its rivals. It no longer is.
In China, which buys about 29% of IPG's lasers, the local leader Raycus now outsells IPG, and the price of a standard laser fell about 60% between 2018 and 2024. Sales per IPG employee are lower than in 2016. Customers come back for IPG's best lasers; for ordinary ones they shop on price.
The evidence under this - 4 claims
IPG's China sales rose 19.1% in 2025 to $291.9M, so it is not simply losing volume there.
Raycus's own gross margin was about 20.5% in 2024 against IPG's near 39%, so IPG still earns far more per unit than its largest rival.
The threat
In factories the threat is Chinese makers like Raycus, selling similar lasers for much less, and Germany's Trumpf, whose patents a European court found IPG's welding lasers infringed; IPG paid to settle.
In defence, rivals are further ahead. The US Army's first production order for laser weapons went to AeroVironment, and nLight already sells far more laser equipment to the military than IPG.
The evidence under this - 4 claims
IPG's China sales rose 19.1% in 2025 to $291.9M, so it is not simply losing volume there.
The rivals: AVAV, LASR, LMT, COHR, MKSI, and 3 more that are private, in-house or listed abroad.
Who else does this, rival by rival
| Ticker | Rival | Where it competes | How far along | Priced against it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wuhan Raycus Fiber Laser TechnologiesPriced against it: Listed abroad | Industrial Solutions, and Advanced Solutions outside defence | On sale | Listed abroad | |
| Shenzhen JPT Opto-Electronics pulsed lasersPriced against it: Listed abroad | Industrial Solutions, and Advanced Solutions outside defence | On sale | Listed abroad | |
| Private | Trumpf disc and fiber lasersPriced against it: Private | Industrial Solutions, and Advanced Solutions outside defence | On sale | Private |
| AVAV | AeroVironment LOCUST X3 laser weaponPriced against it: One segment only | IPG Defense: directed energy and the CROSSBOW counter-drone system | On sale | One segment only |
| LASR | nLight high-energy laser sourcesPriced against it: Same product | IPG Defense: directed energy and the CROSSBOW counter-drone system | On sale | Same product |
| LMT | Lockheed Martin's own high-energy lasersPriced against it: Different product | IPG Defense: directed energy and the CROSSBOW counter-drone system | Announced | Different product |
| COHR | CoherentPriced against it: One segment only | - | On sale | One segment only |
| MKSI | MKSPriced against it: One segment only | - | On sale | One segment only |
How big it could get
How big this could get
The Pentagon asked for about $790M for all laser and other energy weapons in its 2025 budget, down from $1.1B the year before, and most of that pays for research on large weapons.
The one production contract so far buys 26 army lasers over five years, each 30 kilowatts against IPG's 3. Nobody publishes how many small drone lasers are bought a year, so IPG's market cannot be sized; it is a slice of that budget.
The evidence under this - 2 claims
Trade press reports a larger directed energy request in later budgets tied to missile defence, which this report predates; it was not read from a primary source here.
Who has signed
One defence customer has signed: Lockheed Martin ordered about $10M of CROSSBOW systems in February 2026, shipping over several quarters. No second buyer has been named.
For lasers in general, about a third of the year-end backlog was non-binding frame agreements rather than firm orders.
The evidence under this - 2 claims
The results
The numbers
Sales grew 13% over the twelve months to Jun 2026, faster than the 2.7% in the year to Dec 2025.
Operating margin is 0.7%, down from 18% in the year to Dec 2023.
Running costs take 38¢ of each sales dollar, up from 22¢ in the year to Dec 2021.
Each dollar put into the business earns 0.3% a year after tax, down from 10% in the year to Dec 2021.
It turned 1.9% of sales into free cash, $20.8M over the last twelve months.
Yearly sales growth has ranged from −24% to +22% over the last 5 years, with sales falling in 3 of them.
The share count fell 20% in 4.5 years, and pay in shares costs 3.9% of sales.
All the numbers
Filed figures from the company's 10-K and 10-Q, read 2026-10-04. Fiscal years end in December.
| Dec 2021 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2025 | 12 mo to Jun 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size and growth | ||||||
| Sales | $1.46B | $1.43B | $1.29B | $977M | $1.00B | $1.07B |
| Sales growth | +22% | −2.1% | −9.9% | −24% | +2.7% | +13% |
| Profit | ||||||
| Gross margin | 48% | 39% | 42% | 35% | 38% | 38% |
| Operating margin | 25% | 12% | 18% | −21% | 1.3% | 0.7% |
| Net margin | 19% | 7.7% | 17% | −19% | 3.1% | 2.6% |
| What growth costs, per sales dollar | ||||||
| Research and development | 9.6% | 8.1% | 7.7% | 11% | 12% | 12% |
| Sales and marketing | 5.4% | 5.4% | 6.7% | 9.2% | 9.7% | 9.0% |
| General and admin | 8.6% | 9.2% | 9.8% | 13% | 14% | 14% |
| Pay in shares | 2.6% | 2.7% | 3.1% | 3.8% | 4.3% | 3.9% |
| Capital spending | 8.4% | 7.7% | 8.6% | 10% | 7.9% | 7.1% |
| Cash | ||||||
| Cash from operations | $390M | $213M | $296M | $248M | $75.3M | $96.4M |
| Free cash flow | $267M | $103M | $186M | $149M | −$3.45M | $20.8M |
| Balance sheet | ||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | $1.51B | $1.18B | $1.18B | $930M | $839M | $871M |
| Debt | $34.2M | $16.0M | $0 | - | - | - |
| Net cash | $1.48B | $1.16B | $1.18B | - | - | - |
| Returns and shares | ||||||
| Return on capital | 10% | 4.0% | 7.7% | - | 0.4% | 0.3% |
| Shares (diluted) | 53.9M | 50.9M | 47.3M | 44.3M | 42.6M | 42.9M |
What growth costs
IPG's research, sales and office costs barely moved when sales fell, so profit margins collapsed. The flip side is that growth should rebuild them: each extra sale needs little extra overhead, and the latest year started to show that. Pay in shares is creeping up.
The evidence under this - 2 claims
Part of the 2025 rise is acquisition amortisation charged to sales and marketing, mainly cleanLASER, and higher performance pay, not new spending on growth.
Raycus's own gross margin was about 20.5% in 2024 against IPG's near 39%, so IPG still earns far more per unit than its largest rival.
The last report (4 Aug)
Quarter ended June 2026, filed figures.
In the three months to June 2026, sales grew 11%, led by welding lasers for battery factories. The part of the business holding defence shrank 9%, and defence sales fell from a year earlier for the second quarter running.
The margin looked better than it was. About $4.7M of refunded import tariffs added 1.7 percentage points to it; without them it was about where the guidance for the next quarter sits. A charge for selling the Belarus operation left reported operating profit near zero.
What it did to the thesisIt showed the factory business recovering but left the margin question open, because a one-off tariff refund flattered the quarter. It weakened the drone-laser case, since defence sales fell again even as the first Lockheed systems shipped.
The quarter in detail
Sales growth from the previous quarter, filed figures.
Earnings per share $0.12 against $0.37 expected; $0.12 as filed, with no adjustments.
The evidence under this - 5 claims
About 2 points of the revenue growth was currency, and $4.7M of tariff refunds lifted gross margin by about 1.7 points, so the underlying quarter was weaker than the headline.
Management said North American revenue rose sequentially in the June quarter partly on defence sales, so the year-over-year fall may reflect a lumpy 2025 comparison.
The June quarter beat the top of its own gross margin and earnings guidance, so the range may again prove conservative.
What management did with the money
Insiders in 2026Q3: 2 purchases and 21 sales, from their Form 4 filings.
The price, and where we disagree
In short. Full. The cash floor is real, but the price already pays for profit margins climbing back close to their 2023 level, which today's results are far from.
The shares jumped 35% in one day in February 2026, on the report that first featured the drone laser, then fell back to about where they were a year earlier. The story has been priced in and taken out once already.
Three things arrive soon. Results for the September quarter come on November 3, the first real test of the margin without the refund. Lumibird should close by year end. And the army now has a laser weapons programme that is buying, though not from IPG.
The evidence under this - 5 claims
The June quarter beat the top of its own gross margin and earnings guidance, so the range may again prove conservative.
How we read the multiple
IPG's cash is about a quarter of its market value, so the business itself costs less than the share price suggests.
What a buyer is paying for:
- The business, without the cash, costs about 2.5 times a year's sales.
- A common rule of thumb pays about 15 times a year's operating profit for an ordinary industrial company.
- At that rate the business must keep about 17 cents of every sales dollar as operating profit.
- In 2025 it kept about 1 cent; it was last near 17 in 2023.
Against its own history. A little below what IPG has usually sold for against its sales, but that history was earned when margins were many times higher than today.
The evidence under this - 5 claims
After the Lumibird purchase about $349M less cash remains, which lifts the company value to about $3.0B against about $1.2B of combined sales, still about 2.5 times.
- Revenue may grow: analysts expect about $1.24B in 2027 and Lumibird adds about $130M, which would lower the margin needed to roughly 14%.
- Fifteen is a stated multiple, not a measured one; at twenty times the margin needed falls to about 12%.
Most of those six years had operating margins of 12% to 25%, so the historical multiple paid for a far more profitable company.
The Lumibird Medical purchase will spend about $349M of it in cash, with up to about $58M more if the earnout is paid.
2024 carried large goodwill and asset impairments and 2022 a Russia-related write-down, so the GAAP series understates the underlying margin in those years; adjusted margins are steadier but still fell sharply.
Priced against its rivals
Only nLIGHT sells the same thing to the same buyers as a large part of what it does. A price comparison needs at least two, so the price is judged against its own history instead.
Also checked and set aside: Lumentum Holdings (a substitute, not the same product).
Private or foreign rivals that cannot be priced: Wuhan Raycus Fiber Laser Technologies Co., Ltd., Shenzhen JPT Opto-Electronics Co., Ltd., Maxphotonics Co., Ltd., Trumpf GmbH + Co. KG, Laserline GmbH.
The bet: what it pays if it works
The bet is on IPG Defense, the drone-killing laser. The factory and medical business is counted separately at the price the whole company sells for now.
If several customers buy at Lockheed's pace each year, the shares are worth only slightly more than today, because the defence line is so small next to the rest. If CROSSBOW comes to nothing, the factory business and the cash still cover roughly today's price, so little is lost.
| IPG Defense: directed energy and the CROSSBOW counter-drone system revenue in two to three years | Lockheed-sized CROSSBOW orders a year needed | At the stated multiple |
|---|---|---|
| $30.00M | about 3 at 100% kept | 1.0× |
| $75.00M (the big win) | about 8 at 100% kept | 1.1× |
| $175.00M | about 18 at 100% kept | 1.2× |
To pay 2× (a Fair bet) it would need about $673.77M of IPG Defense: directed energy and the CROSSBOW counter-drone system revenue (about 67 Lockheed-sized CROSSBOW orders a year); to pay 5× (a Cheap bet), about $2.58B of IPG Defense: directed energy and the CROSSBOW counter-drone system revenue (about 258 Lockheed-sized CROSSBOW orders a year), at the same multiple.
Each row is IPG Defense: directed energy and the CROSSBOW counter-drone system alone, plus the rest of the company (Industrial Solutions, and Advanced Solutions outside defence) counted at about $3.00B.
The steps it has to take
- Done CROSSBOW launched as a commercial counter-drone product
- Done IPG Defense site opened in Huntsville, Alabama
- Done A $10M follow-on order from Lockheed Martin
- In progress Lockheed order shipped in full due 2026-12
- Not started A second CROSSBOW customer with a disclosed order due 2027-06
- Not started Defence sales grow year over year again due 2027-06
- Not started The 6 to 8 kilowatt CROSSBOW version launched due 2027-12
- Not started Defence sales near $75M a year due 2029-03
The detail behind the label
The evidence under this - 7 claims
One army contract alone is worth about $93M a year, so a single programme win could exceed the big win; none has gone to a 3-kilowatt system.
After the Lumibird purchase about $349M less cash remains, which lifts the company value to about $3.0B against about $1.2B of combined sales, still about 2.5 times.
The Lumibird Medical purchase will spend about $349M of it in cash, with up to about $58M more if the earnout is paid.
Where we disagree with the market
A cyclical laser maker on the way back, with a defence business as a bonus.
The recovery is mostly priced in, the margin target is unproven against Chinese prices, and the defence line is too small to matter yet.
Most analysts rate the shares a buy, expecting sales and profit to recover strongly in 2027.
We think the factory recovery is real but the margin is the open question: management still aims for a gross margin in the mid-40s, and it has not reached 40% without help this year. And the defence line is shrinking while rivals win the big contracts.
We could be wrong if the margin climbs past 43% on its own, or a second drone-laser customer signs.
What analysts say, and the evidence
The evidence under this - 5 claims
The vendor's dated series covers only nine analysts, with the buy share flat at 66.7% since June after rising from 54.5% in February.
- Revenue may grow: analysts expect about $1.24B in 2027 and Lumibird adds about $130M, which would lower the margin needed to roughly 14%.
- Fifteen is a stated multiple, not a measured one; at twenty times the margin needed falls to about 12%.
Management said North American revenue rose sequentially in the June quarter partly on defence sales, so the year-over-year fall may reflect a lumpy 2025 comparison.
- Adjusted gross margin has not been above 40% excluding refunds in any quarter of 2025 or 2026 read here, and third-quarter guidance's midpoint is 39%.
- Chinese kilowatt-class laser prices fell about 60% from 2018 to 2024, which caps price in the largest market.
What could go wrong, and how we would know
The risks
- China's price war. Chinese rivals cut laser prices about 60% in six years and now outsell IPG in China, which buys 29% of its lasers.
- The margin may not return. Without a one-off tariff refund the margin was about 39%, short of the mid-40s target, and tariffs still cost about 1.5 percentage points.
- Cash spent at full price. Lumibird Medical takes about $349M of the cash at roughly the price IPG itself trades at, so it adds little unless its margins rise.
- Defence is going elsewhere. Defence sales fell in both 2026 quarters, and the army's first production contract went to a far more powerful rival laser.
- Patents. European courts found IPG's adjustable-beam welding lasers infringed Trumpf patents; IPG settled and now pays Trumpf a royalty to keep selling them.
The evidence under this - 6 claims
IPG's China sales rose 19.1% in 2025 to $291.9M, so it is not simply losing volume there.
Management said North American revenue rose sequentially in the June quarter partly on defence sales, so the year-over-year fall may reflect a lumpy 2025 comparison.
What we still do not know
- How much IPG sells to the military: it reports defence inside a larger line and never gives the figure.
- What one CROSSBOW system costs, and how many the $10M Lockheed order bought.
- Whether Chinese makers, now exporting, will push prices down in Europe and America as they did at home.
The evidence under this - 3 claims
The bound is a 2025 figure, set before the Lockheed shipments began in the June 2026 quarter, so 2026 defence sales could sit nearer it than the falling trend suggests.
- Adjusted gross margin has not been above 40% excluding refunds in any quarter of 2025 or 2026 read here, and third-quarter guidance's midpoint is 39%.
- Chinese kilowatt-class laser prices fell about 60% from 2018 to 2024, which caps price in the largest market.
What would change our view
- Neutral→AttractiveThe price falls to two times sales
It needs:
- ○The shares fall until the business, after its cash, costs about twice a year's sales.about ≈$67.51 today, 20% below the last close
- Neutral→AttractiveThe margin comes back without refunds
It needs all of:
- ○Gross margin, before one-off items, reaches 43% for two quarters in a row without tariff refunds.checked at the next results, due by 3 Nov
- ○In those same two quarters, reported operating profit is more than 10 cents of each sales dollar.checked at the next results, due by 3 Nov
- Neutral→UnattractiveGross margin breaks lower
It needs:
- ○Gross margin, before one-off items and without tariff refunds, falls below 37% for two quarters in a row.checked at the next results, due by 3 Nov
We would also be wrong if
- China sales fall from a year earlier for two quarters while Raycus keeps cutting prices.
- No second CROSSBOW customer with a disclosed order by the end of 2027.
- The Lumibird purchase leads to a write-down within three years.
What is coming
- 3 November 2026 Q3 2026 results: Whether adjusted gross margin holds near 39% without tariff refunds, revenue clears $280M and defence grows again, the reading the next test pre-registers.
Every dated event ahead
- 3 November 2026 Q3 2026 results: Whether adjusted gross margin holds near 39% without tariff refunds, revenue clears $280M and defence grows again, the reading the next test pre-registers.
- December 2026 Lumibird Medical acquisition closes: Whether the French approvals land on time and the €300M leaves the cash pile, and from when medical sales and margin start to show in IPG's figures.
- February 2027 Q4 2026 results, 2027 outlook and the 2026 10-K: A full year's operating margin against the 17% the price needs, the first Lumibird quarter, the use of the buyback and the 2026 China and defence splits.
Since we wrote this
- 5 OctThesis reviewThe bet now names what it ridesThe owner asked that every bet name the macro trend behind it, after BWXT's bet was missing its chief executive's case for nuclear over gas.
- 4 OctThesis writtenNeutral, medium convictionThe cash floor is real and the recovery has started, but the price already needs margins near 2023's, and the drone laser is too small to matter yet.
- 4 OctThesis reviewOwner's checklist: revenue streams, cost of growth, management, catalystsThe owner's checklist found the method silent on who runs the company, what growth costs, where the money comes from and what is dated ahead; this pass fills those four blocks from the proxy and filings.
Also checked 3 times with nothing new to act on.
Sources 19
Sources - 19
Every claim above cites one of these, or states the reasoning that derived it. The quote is frozen at the date it was read: a link can rot, and an agent fetch returns a reading of a page rather than the page. Backs counts the whole claim ledger, so it can name a claim this page does not surface.
- S01primarycompany filing2026-02-23the business description, vertical integration, end-market and China split, competitors, backlog, customers, headcount, CROSSBOW risk factors and the 2021-2025 statementsbacksC01C02C03C05C11C20C22C33C43C46C47C49
- S02primarycompany release2026-02-12second-half 2025 adjusted EBITDA, the reconciliation and the buyback authorisationbacksC06C31
- S03primarytranscript2026-02-12IPG Photonics fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, held 2026-02-12the CROSSBOW launch, the Huntsville site, the 3-kilowatt MINI and the 6 to 8 kilowatt roadmap, and the hundreds-of-millions growth aim
We're not heading towards the megawatt-type systems. We're not doing government contracting.
backsC11C12C15 - S04primarytranscript2026-05-05IPG Photonics first-quarter 2026 earnings call, held 2026-05-05the mid-40s gross margin target and its tariff headwind, defence down in the quarter, and the Lockheed order shipping from Q2; the Stifel analyst's question on the margin target
In general, that's a target we're still striving to get to.
backsC08C13C14 - S05primarycompany filing2026-08-04the balance sheet, cash flow, share count, the Trumpf settlement and the Belarus impairmentbacksC03C04C09C21C26C31C32C36C49
- S06primarycompany release2026-08-04quarterly revenue by business, margins, adjusted EBITDA and the non-GAAP reconciliationbacksC04C06C07
- S07primarytranscript2026-08-04tariff refunds, defence down, Lockheed shipments, Lumibird's rationale, third-quarter guidance and capital spending
Advanced Solutions revenue decreased 9% compared with last year as growth in semiconductor applications was offset by lower revenue in micromachining and defense.
backsC04C07C09C10C13C14C15C32C36C37C38 - S08primarycompany filing2026-07-17the price, earnout, Lumibird Medical's sales and margin and the expected closingbacksC10
- S09primarycompany release2026-02-26the size and timing of the Lockheed follow-on order
The order is valued at approximately $10 million and is expected to be delivered over the next several quarters.
backsC13 - S10primarycompany filing2026-02-27nLight's revenue by end market and its description of the same lasersbacksC17
- S11primarycompany filing2026-09-09the Enduring High Energy Laser award to AeroVironmentbacksC16
- S12primarygovernment data2024-07-01Congressional Research Service, Department of Defense Directed Energy Weapons, R46925 Congressional Research Servicethe size and direction of US directed energy spending
Overall, DOD requested $789.7 million for directed energy weapons programs in FY2025, down from its $962.4 million request and $1.1 billion appropriation in FY2024.
backsC18 - S13secondaryindustry data2026-01-01Chinese market shares and the fall in price per kilowatt-class laser
China's fiber laser CR2 is approximately 50%; CR3 exceeds 60% ; CR5 exceeds 75%. Raycus's approximately 27% share already surpasses IPG's share in China.
backsC19 - S14tertiarynews2026-09-03the unit count, power and value of the E-HEL award and the Joint Laser Weapons System awards
The US Army awarded AV a $464.8 million contract for 26 LOCUST X3 laser weapons under its first formal directed energy program of record.
backsC16 - S15secondaryvendor data2026-10-04Research pack (FMP market tier, FINRA short interest, headcount index)market value, vendor company value, analyst split and estimates, valuation history, short interest and headcountbacksC23C26C28C30C33C38
- S16secondaryvendor data2026-10-02FMP end-of-day price seriesdaily closes and the moves around the February and May 2026 printsbacksC23C27
- S17primarycompany filing2026-09-03Form 4 filings by IPG insiders, October 2025 to October 2026insider sales, their 10b5-1 flags and the director's purchasebacksC29
- S18primarycompany filing2026-04-01beneficial ownership as of March 20, 2026 and its footnotes on the founder's trusts and IP Fibre Devices, director biographies, the 2025 annual incentive plan, the PSU and RSU design and the 2022 PSU outcomebacksC44C45C46
- S19primarycompany filing2026-09-08the signed share purchase agreement, the French foreign-investment and AMF conditions and the expected fourth-quarter 2026 closingbacksC50