Coherent jumps 10% as Bernstein initiates at Outperform and PhotonLink draws AI optics bets

COHR jumped about 10% on October 1, trading at $315.71 at the time of 24/7 Wall St.'s report, as traders reacted to Bernstein's new coverage of the optical networking group and refocused on Coherent's PhotonLink platform for AI data centers. SentiSense's delayed quote showed the stock at $319.19, up 10.9%, late in the session.

The rating action was an initiation, not an upgrade: Bernstein started Coherent at Outperform as part of a broader launch on U.S. networking and optical names it described as potential "structural winners" within AI infrastructure. Investing.com and StockStory report a $350 price target, which StockStory says rests on 22 times estimated 2028 earnings per share of $16. Bernstein also started LITE, CIEN and ANET at Outperform, and CSCO and GLW at Market Perform.

PhotonLink, launched on September 21, is an integrated-optics platform that links chip-to-chip, in-rack and data-center connectivity products to the AI buildout. Coherent says it has more than ten co-packaged optics and more than ten near-packaged optics customer engagements, and its launch release said anchor customers and long-term agreements are in place for both architectures, with revenue expected to begin ramping in the fourth quarter of calendar 2026.

The bid spread across optics. Lumentum rose 9% to $1,058.42 and Corning 3% to $158.89, while the Roundhill Photonics & Optics ETF gained 4% to $25.40 against a 0.2% dip in SPY at the time of the report. Coherent moving more than twice as much as the ETF points to a company-specific catalyst layered on a sector rally.

What to watch: whether PhotonLink engagements convert into material orders as the planned ramp begins, and how exposed the group remains to shifts in hyperscaler AI capital spending, customer order timing and industry capacity, the risks 24/7 Wall St. flagged alongside the rally.