Coherent

COHR

Market cap $60.6B

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction), along with the broader semi scene, is bouncing back again.

SAXONBURG, Pa., July 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Coherent Corp. (NYSE: COHR), a global leader in photonics, has been awarded on TIME's list of America's Best Companies 2026.

AI data center operators are staring down a bandwidth wall, and the fastest way over it runs through glass, not copper.

COHR's expanding margins and rising factory efficiency show how AI-driven demand is translating into stronger profits and earnings growth.

Luke Lango highlights AI's toll roads

COHR's AI-driven datacenter demand, record backlog and stronger balance sheet support its growth case despite a premium valuation.

The recent AI infrastructure selloff reflected sentiment and valuation reset, while Coherent (COHR) maintained record backlog visibility extending through 2028. Six-inch indium phosphide expansion strengthens Coherent's manufacturing moat as demand visibility, margins and production capacity continue improving simultaneously. The company is positioned across transceivers, Optical Circuit Switching, Co-Packaged Optics and thermal technologies, creating multiple overlapping long-term growth drivers.

Prominent AI investor Gavin Baker believes that the current hardware cycle is fundamentally different from past tech bubbles.

One of the new congestion points in AI is the speed at which data can be transferred. Nvidia has been aggressively investing in companies that could offer a solution.

Here is how Coherent (COHR) and Enpro (NPO) have performed compared to their sector so far this year.