Nvidia Gets The Headlines. But This Optical Networking Stock Was The Bigger AI Surprise

Coherent, an optical networking company, surged over 400% in the past 12 months, significantly outperforming Nvidia's ~50% gain. The company benefits from data centers upgrading to faster optical infrastructure to support AI and cloud computing. However, Coherent's high valuation (63x fiscal 2027 earnings) compared to Nvidia (22x) may limit future upside, and analysts expect Coherent could underperform Nvidia for the rest of the year.