So, you know how sometimes a stock just takes off because of something you see on TV? That's basically what happened to nLIGHT Inc. (LASR) on Monday. The shares surged, hitting a fresh 52-week high of about $69.54. The catalyst wasn't an earnings report or a big contract win—it was a Sunday night episode of 60 Minutes.
The segment focused on a very modern problem: how to defend against swarms of cheap drones, like the ones Iran produces. The proposed solution? Laser weapons. And as it turns out, one company making the tech for those lasers saw its stock get a serious boost from the prime-time exposure.
The X-Factor: An Investor Connects the Dots
While the TV segment provided the backdrop, the specific connection to nLIGHT gained traction thanks to individual investor Marc Lehman. He posted on X Monday, pointing out that nLIGHT supplies technology for the AeroVironment Locust laser system, which was featured in the 60 Minutes report. His post drew over 21,000 impressions, effectively telling the market, "Hey, this company on TV? nLIGHT is a part of it."
The Locust system is made by AeroVironment Inc. (AVAV). In the segment, AeroVironment CEO Wahid Nawabi made the core sales pitch for the technology. "It changes the economics on how we can actually defeat and defend against these targets that are now being deployed and produced by tens of thousands," Nawabi told CBS.
The Billion-Dollar Math Problem
This is really a story about simple, brutal arithmetic. The 60 Minutes report laid it out clearly. Iran's Shahed drones can cost as little as $20,000 apiece. To shoot them down, the U.S. has been using missile interceptors that cost millions of dollars each. You don't need an MBA to see that's a losing financial proposition if drones are coming in by the thousands.
Enter lasers. A laser shot costs just a few dollars in energy. Former President Donald Trump called the technology "incredible" in a March social media post, arguing lasers could do the job of Patriot missiles for far less money.
Each Locust unit itself has a price tag of roughly $8 million. The system can be stationary or mounted on a truck, and its radars can detect drones from up to 7 miles away. The urgency for such a system was underscored by reporting that U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf were running low on expensive interceptors within days of the recent conflict's start, following a drone attack in Kuwait that killed six U.S. service members.
Bigger Than One Stock: Geopolitics Fuels the Trade
The run in nLIGHT isn't happening in a vacuum. There's a broader geopolitical backdrop that's putting defense technology names in focus. Hostilities around the critical Strait of Hormuz have helped push Brent crude oil prices up roughly 50%. When tensions rise and energy markets get jittery, investors often look toward defense stocks as potential beneficiaries of increased military spending and technological urgency.
Price Action
Putting it all together, the reaction was decisive. nLIGHT shares were up 11.09% at $69.54 at the time of publication on Monday, according to market data. The stock is now up roughly 78% year-to-date. Zoom out a bit further, and the move is even more dramatic: it has surged approximately 642% over the past year. Sometimes a good idea on paper—like using cheap energy to destroy cheap drones—gets a powerful spotlight, and the market votes with its dollars.
