Jim Cramer has a clear message for investors chasing photonics exposure: skip speculative small caps and own companies already delivering results. During a recent Mad Money Lightning Round, Cramer passed on Poet Technologies without an opinion, directing investors instead to his preferred names in the space: Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ:LITE | LITE Price Prediction) and Coherent (NYSE:COHR).
This past spring, Cramer pointed to both stocks as the right way to play data center optical infrastructure, noting that “both of them are getting $2 billion investment from NVIDIA, but Lumentum’s been the better performer.” The thesis is straightforward: if the AI infrastructure cycle continues, own companies with order books, margins, and backlog to prove it.
Lumentum: The Faster-Growing Engine
Lumentum’s most recent quarter makes the bull case concrete. Q2 FY2026 revenue reached $665.5 million, up 66% year-over-year, with non-GAAP EPS of $1.67 beating the $1.4085 consensus by 19%. Non-GAAP operating margin expanded 1,730 basis points year-over-year to 25%. The stock has responded accordingly: Shares are up more than 143% year to date and nearly 685% over the past year.
Two growth engines are early in their ramp. The optical circuit switch (OCS) backlog exceeds $400 million, and the company recently received an incremental multi-hundred-million-dollar co-packaged optics (CPO) order deliverable in the first half of calendar 2027. CEO Michael Hurlston captured the forward picture: “Our forward guidance calls for over 85 percent year-over-year revenue growth, yet we are only at the starting line for two substantial opportunities: optical circuit switches and co-packaged optics.”
Q3 FY2026 guidance calls for revenue of $780 million to $830 million and non-GAAP operating margin of 30% to 31%. The company’s SEC filing confirms these figures directly from management.
Coherent: Scale and Diversification
Coherent operates at larger scale with a broader product portfolio for AI infrastructure. Q2 FY2026 revenue came in at $1.686 billion, up 18% year-over-year, beating estimates by 3%, with non-GAAP EPS of $1.29 beating the $1.2061 consensus by roughly 7%. The datacenter and communications segment, which now represents roughly 72% of total revenue, grew 34% year-over-year to $1.208 billion.
The company sharpened focus by completing the sale of its Aerospace and Defense business and using proceeds for $400 million in debt repayment. CEO Jim Anderson outlined the trajectory: “We expect continued strong growth in the second-half of fiscal 2026 and throughout fiscal 2027 based on strong datacenter and communications demand and our continued production capacity expansion.”
Coherent’s year-to-date performance reflects this momentum. Shares are up 84.38% year to date and nearly 242% over the past year. Q3 FY2026 guidance targets revenue of $1.70 billion to $1.84 billion, with the company recognized as an NVIDIA Ecosystem Innovation Partner for co-packaged optics.
Why Proven Beats Speculative
The photonics theme is real. Retail investors on Reddit have been asking the same question in recent weeks, with an r/stocks thread titled “Is photonics just getting started? $LITE and $COHR” drawing sustained engagement. The difference between Lumentum and Coherent versus early-stage photonics names comes down to execution. Both Lumentum and Coherent generate revenue at scale, expand margins quarter over quarter, and sit on multi-hundred-million-dollar order pipelines tied directly to hyperscaler AI infrastructure spending. Cramer’s preference for names with demonstrated financial momentum over unproven stories reflects a straightforward risk calculus the numbers support.
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