nLight production operator Wilma Marron, of Vancouver, works in the company’s laser manufacturing process. The company began its first day of public trading on April 25 and closed strong. (Alisha Jucevic/The Columbian)
This time last year, nLIGHT was a privately held laser manufacturer looking to turn a profit.
But on Tuesday the Vancouver firm posted its first quarterly earnings report as a public company and showed a surge in revenues, a tidy profit and strong expectations for the near future.
Revenues climbed to $42.4 million, a 42 percent rise from its first fiscal quarter last year. Likewise, the company’s $1.2 million loss last year rose to a $2.9 million profit.
President and CEO Scott Keeney told investors that the jolt in revenues comes from rising demand for high-powered lasers. Such industries as aerospace, manufacturing and defense are turning to precision beams for jobs such as cutting, welding and additive manufacturing.
nLIGHT projects revenues to grow even more next quarter — to somewhere between $48 and $52 million — but executives also curbed expectations. Most companies, Keeney said, won’t trade out legacy machines tomorrow.
“With new applications, it takes some time for adoption to occur,” Keeney said.
Keeney also revealed in the presentation to investors that nLIGHT plans to debut new products at the end of the year.
nLIGHT went public on April 26, selling more than 6 million shares in the company and making about $100 million in the process. David Nierenberg, a prominent Camas investor with 87,000 shares in the company, expects the company will use the cash infusion to pay off its debts.
“I think it’s a very solid first quarter and a promising guidance for the second quarter,” he said.
Some experts in the laser industry peg global sales to rise to $4.2 billion in 2020, nearly double its size in 2015. That is rapid growth, but as Nierenberg pointed out during the investor call, nLIGHT’s revenues are growing faster.
“We are growing faster than the market,” Keeney said before adding that going public could help them grow even faster.
nLIGHT, traded on the Nasdaq Exchange as LASR, closed trading Wednesday at $29.93 per share, down $1.87.
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