On July 31, Lumentum rose 3.02% in after-hours trading, trading at 713.48 USD/share, with turnover of $271 million. Microsoft's strong quarterly results reignited market confidence in AI compute infrastructure investment, driving capital back into the optical communications upstream segment and extending the sector's rebound.
The optical communications sector had previously suffered multi-day heavy selling after Corning's Q3 guidance disappointed the market, with core sales forecast upper-bound merely matching consensus expectations. This triggered broad concerns over AI infrastructure capex pacing, with Lumentum experiencing a significant cumulative pullback from its highs. Microsoft's confirmation that AI infrastructure spending intensity remains unchanged pushed the sector into recovery mode, with peers Applied Optoelectronics up 5.3%, Nokia up 1.98%, and Ciena up 1.49%.
Lumentum is an industry-leading optical and photonic products supplier serving cloud data centers and AI/ML networking applications. The company's next earnings report is expected on August 11 after market close, with consensus EPS of $2.62. Barclays recently upgraded the stock to Overweight with a $1,000 target price, citing strong pricing power amid laser component supply shortages.
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