nLight price target raised to $60 from $45 at Stifel

Stifel analyst Jonathan Siegmann raised the firm’s price target on nLight (LASR) to $60 from $45 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares as the firm transfers coverage of the stock. While technically categorized as an electrical equipment stock outside the aerospace & defense index, the firm views nLight as a “linchpin national security asset critical to future directed energy (laser) weapons.” The technology is underpinning new priority investments such as missile-defense, counter-drone operations, and new naval surface ships, notes the analyst, who sees directed energy weapons as “near a generational developmental inflection point which will have game-changing impacts on the future fight across all domains.”