COHR vs ALAB Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
COHR and ALAB both sell into AI infrastructure but with opposite operating models. Coherent manufactures physical photonic components and materials, a capital-intensive business with component margins, diversified end markets, and a leveraged balance sheet. Astera Labs designs connectivity chips without owning fabs, producing much higher gross margins and faster growth but with concentrated customers and a valuation that already assumes success.
Use this COHR vs ALAB comparison to weigh asset-heavy manufacturing against asset-light design. Coherent's factories and materials expertise are hard to replicate but consume capital and earn thinner margins. Astera's design and software position earns far more per dollar of revenue, but nothing physical protects it if a customer chooses a competing chip.
COHR holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. COHR leads on both 1-year return (+177.72%) and forward P/E quality (19.07x vs 45.55x for ALAB), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. ALAB leads on both revenue growth (104.50%) and operating margin (22.74%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for COHR (+56.11%) than for ALAB (+33.90%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to optical component volume growth across AI and telecom
- Value vertical integration into scarce photonic materials
- Like diversification across industrial, medical, and communications markets
- Accept leverage and component margins in exchange for a lower valuation
- Want high-margin, fabless exposure to AI accelerator interconnect
- Believe PCIe and CXL generation cycles create recurring content growth
- Value the software and diagnostics layer as added stickiness
- Accept customer concentration and a demanding valuation
| Metric | COHR | ALAB |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 71.8 | 48.4 |
| AI ranki | #31 | #558 |
| Latest closei | $295.83 | $364.62 |
| 1M returni | +0.50% | +25.60% |
| 6M returni | +21.50% | +224.19% |
| 1Y returni | +177.72% | +77.63% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | COHR | ALAB |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $27.76K (+177.6%) started 2025-09-25 | $18.17K (+81.7%) started 2025-09-25 |
| 5Y ago | $48.7K (+387.0%) started 2021-09-27 | $58.78K (+487.8%) started 2024-03-20 |
| 10Y ago | $126.97K (+1169.7%) started 2016-09-26 | $58.78K (+487.8%) started 2024-03-20 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | COHR | ALAB |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $52.11B | $50.52B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 64.74 | 142.75 |
| Forward P/Ei | 19.07 | 45.55 |
| Price/Salesi | 12.17 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 7.75 | 41.03 |
| Analyst targeti | $415.36 | $389.95 |
| Target upsidei | +56.11% | +33.90% |
| Metric | COHR | ALAB |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 33.70% | 104.50% |
| Earnings growthi | 27548.00% | 186.20% |
| EPS growthi | +27548.00% | +186.20% |
| FCF margini | -9.13% | +7.65% |
| Operating margini | 11.83% | 22.74% |
| Profit margini | 11.31% | 30.74% |
| ROIC proxyi | 7.98% | 25.83% |
| Return on equityi | 7.98% | 25.83% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 2.11 | 3.78 |
| Debt/equityi | 31.61 | 2.57 |
| Current ratioi | 2.43 | 10.05 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.17 | 9.16 |
Over the past year, COHR and ALAB have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.52), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | COHR | ALAB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +177.59% | +81.73% |
| CAGRi | +178.00% | +81.88% | |
| Volatilityi | 85.73% | 98.94% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.57 | 1.06 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 2.38 | 1.57 | |
| Max drawdowni | 47.98% | 55.52% | |
| Current drawdowni | 30.70% | 24.51% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 12.03% | 26.46% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 16.74% | 30.43% | |
| Max daily dropi | 14.24% | 21.41% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 28.87% | 34.09% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +386.96% | +487.81% |
| CAGRi | +37.30% | +102.18% | |
| Volatilityi | 65.67% | 94.22% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.75 | 1.17 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.09 | 1.85 | |
| Max drawdowni | 62.87% | 63.69% | |
| Current drawdowni | 30.70% | 24.51% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 24.62% | 29.46% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 30.93% | 34.26% | |
| Max daily dropi | 29.87% | 28.03% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 30.16% | 37.61% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +1169.66% | +487.81% |
| CAGRi | +28.95% | +102.18% | |
| Volatilityi | 58.82% | 94.22% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.65 | 1.17 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.95 | 1.85 | |
| Max drawdowni | 72.22% | 63.69% | |
| Current drawdowni | 30.70% | 24.51% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 27.95% | 29.46% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 33.93% | 34.26% | |
| Max daily dropi | 29.87% | 28.03% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 32.69% | 37.61% |
| Category | COHR | ALAB |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Coherent Corp. | Astera Labs, Inc. |
| Sector | Technology | Technology |
| Industry | Scientific & Technical Instruments | Semiconductors |
| Core business | Vertically integrated producer of optical and photonic products spanning high-speed datacom transceivers, indium phosphide materials and lasers, telecom optics, and industrial and medical laser systems. | Fabless designer of connectivity semiconductors for AI and cloud infrastructure, including PCIe and CXL retimers, smart cable modules, and fabric switches, together with software for link diagnostics and management. |
| Investor focus | Datacom transceiver mix at the highest speeds, indium phosphide capacity, margin improvement and portfolio rationalisation, and deleveraging. | Design wins across accelerator platforms, fabric switch adoption, customer concentration, and defence of high gross margins as volumes scale. |
- Vertical integration into laser materials provides supply advantage when photonics capacity is scarce
- Broad exposure across data centre, telecom, industrial, and medical end markets
- Every additional high-speed optical port in AI clusters expands its addressable volume
- Fabless model delivers very high gross margins without owning fabrication capacity
- Positioned at the centre of accelerator interconnect, where PCIe and CXL generations create recurring upgrade cycles
- Software and diagnostics layer adds stickiness beyond selling silicon alone
- Capital-intensive manufacturing with component-level margins
- Carries significant debt from prior acquisitions
- Industrial and telecom segments are cyclical and have been uneven
- Revenue depends on a small number of very large customers and platform cycles
- Larger semiconductor companies are targeting the same connectivity opportunity
- Valuation assumes sustained rapid growth, making any deceleration costly for the shares
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