5 Best Optical Networking Stocks to Buy According to Analysts

4. Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE)

Stock Upside: 17.75%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 69

Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) is one of the best optical networking stocks to buy according to analysts. On May 19, AIXTRON SE announced that Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) had placed multiple orders for AIXTRON’s G10-AsP MOCVD systems. These are manufacturing equipment that Lumentum will use to scale up production of indium phosphide (InP)-based lasers and detectors for high-speed AI data center networks.

For context, InP-based lasers are the core components inside the optical transceivers that connect thousands of AI accelerator chips within data centers. Unlike older optical generations, these new lasers can handle massive bandwidth, which makes them ideal for AI model training and inference workloads. Lumentum supplies these components to some of the world’s largest hyperscalers.

The G10-AsP platform Lumentum ordered is AIXTRON’s latest MOCVD system. It is designed specifically for compound semiconductor materials like InP, and it gives Lumentum the ability to manufacture more chips per run with greater precision.

This order appears to be part of Lumentum’s capacity expansion push because on March 26, it announced plans for a new 240,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Greensboro, North Carolina. Lumentum said it plans to use the facility to produce InP-based optical products. The company expects that facility to start operating in mid-2028, and it has committed several hundred million dollars to it.

Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) is an optical networking and photonics company. It designs and manufactures high-performance optical and laser-based components used in fiber-optic communication systems.