Coherent Corp. (COHR): Yapay Zeka Veri Merkezi Oluşturmalarında Kritik Bir Oyuncu

Coherent Corp. (COHR): A Critical Player in AI Data Center Buildouts

Thu, September 17, 2026 at 3:11 PM GMT+3 3 min read

• COHR +6.92%

Baron Capital, an investment management company, released its second-quarter 2026 investor letter for its "Baron SMID Cap ETF". You can download the letter here. Baron SMID Cap ETF® (BCSM) gained 15.62% (NAV) in the second quarter, underperforming the Russell 2500 Growth Index's 24.02% return. The trend towards "AI winners" continued, focusing on companies related to chips, power equipment, and AI data center financing. MSCI's Barra factor attribution indicates the fund's underperformance was due to being underweight in Momentum and Beta factors. The top 10 holdings of the fund accounted for 29.3% of assets. The firm believes the portfolio companies are performing well fundamentally and are viewed as long-term cash flow compounders poised for significant returns. Additionally, reviewing the Fund's top five holdings could help identify its best picks for 2026.

In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Baron SMID Cap ETF highlighted Coherent Corp (NYSE:COHR) as a leading performance contributor. Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) which manufactures and markets engineered materials, optoelectronic components and devices, as well as laser systems used across data center, industrial, and communications applications, contributed 1.57% to the fund's return this quarter. On September 16, 2026, Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) closed at $289.93 per share. Over the past month, Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) declined 0.03%, while its shares are up 168.33% over the past year. Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) has a market capitalization of $56.78 billion, and its stock has traded within a 52-week range of $102.14 and $440.00.

Baron SMID Cap ETF stated the following regarding Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:

"Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) is a vertically integrated provider of laser based systems. The company's lasers are used for high power manufacturing and cutting, semiconductor manufacturing, scientific research, and defense (its legacy markets). It is also one of the leading players in photonics, which uses lasers and other components to transmit information at the speed of light. Coherent is the only major western optical transceiver manufacturer connecting servers within data centers. This is clearly a massive new market given the explosion in AI data center buildouts. In the first quarter, the excitement around AI data center buildouts drove performance in companies like Coherent that are enabling this massive wave of installations."

Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) is not on our list of the 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 105 hedge fund portfolios held Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) at the end of the second quarter, compared to 114 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we discussed Nvidia's $2 Billion investment in Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR). In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2026 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.