CRDO vs COHR Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
CRDO and COHR both supply high-speed interconnect for AI data centers but through fundamentally different technologies and business models. Credo focuses on active electrical cables and SerDes ICs at shorter reach distances, competing on power and cost in AI GPU cluster intra-rack deployments. Coherent sells optical transceivers and photonic components across a much larger range of applications, with a more complex balance sheet from its recent merger.
The CRDO vs COHR choice frames AEC vs optical technology at the data center interconnect layer — Credo bets that electrical solutions win at GPU cluster intra-rack distances, while Coherent bets that dense optical wins across all AI infrastructure scales; the right investment depends on how quickly AI cluster architectures evolve.
CRDO holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. COHR has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+193.72% vs +2.08%), though CRDO has the better forward P/E setup (17.21x vs 19.07x for COHR). CRDO leads on both revenue growth (157.00%) and operating margin (35.66%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for CRDO (+67.71%) than for COHR (+56.11%).
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.
- prefer a pure-play hyperscaler AI interconnect story with a simple product thesis
- value the cost and power efficiency advantages of AEC over optical at short reach in GPU clusters
- want a high-growth fabless semiconductor company with a SerDes IP licensing model providing recurring revenue
- are comfortable with customer concentration risk and the lumpiness of hyperscaler deployment cycles
- prefer a diversified photonics and optical components company with multiple end markets beyond AI
- value vertical integration in compound semiconductors as a competitive moat in optical transceivers
- want exposure to 800G transceiver demand across a broader customer base than a single hyperscaler relationship
- are comfortable with balance sheet leverage from the merger and patient about deleveraging timelines
| Metric | CRDO | COHR |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 58.6 | 81.4 |
| AI ranki | #203 | #11 |
| Latest closei | $175.89 | $317.36 |
| 1M returni | -25.10% | +10.40% |
| 6M returni | +70.11% | +15.16% |
| 1Y returni | +2.08% | +193.72% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | CRDO | COHR |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $10.21K (+2.1%) started 2025-09-18 | $29.37K (+193.7%) started 2025-09-18 |
| 5Y ago | $150.98K (+1409.8%) started 2022-01-27 | $53.53K (+435.3%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | $150.98K (+1409.8%) started 2022-01-27 | $140.36K (+1303.6%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | CRDO | COHR |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $31.13B | $52.11B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 66.26 | 64.74 |
| Forward P/Ei | 17.21 | 19.07 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 12.17 |
| EV/Revenuei | 27.80 | 7.75 |
| Analyst targeti | $277.81 | $415.36 |
| Target upsidei | +67.71% | +56.11% |
| Metric | CRDO | COHR |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 157.00% | 33.70% |
| Earnings growthi | 343.20% | 27548.00% |
| EPS growthi | +343.20% | +27548.00% |
| FCF margini | +18.79% | -9.13% |
| Operating margini | 35.66% | 11.83% |
| Profit margini | 35.37% | 11.31% |
| ROIC proxyi | 34.41% | 7.98% |
| Return on equityi | 34.41% | 7.98% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 3.23 | 2.11 |
| Debt/equityi | 1.23 | 31.61 |
| Current ratioi | 10.15 | 2.43 |
| Quick ratioi | 8.51 | 1.17 |
Over the past year, CRDO and COHR have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.50), 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 | CRDO | COHR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +2.08% | +193.72% |
| CAGRi | +2.08% | +193.93% | |
| Volatilityi | 95.58% | 85.79% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.45 | 1.64 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.66 | 2.48 | |
| Max drawdowni | 53.59% | 47.98% | |
| Current drawdowni | 41.86% | 25.66% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 22.12% | 11.61% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 26.32% | 16.26% | |
| Max daily dropi | 20.04% | 14.24% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 31.66% | 28.87% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +1409.79% | +435.27% |
| CAGRi | +79.49% | +39.92% | |
| Volatilityi | 82.97% | 65.62% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.08 | 0.78 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.63 | 1.14 | |
| Max drawdowni | 62.04% | 62.87% | |
| Current drawdowni | 41.86% | 25.66% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 19.69% | 24.53% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 25.44% | 30.88% | |
| Max daily dropi | 46.80% | 29.87% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 51.50% | 30.16% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +1409.79% | +1303.63% |
| CAGRi | +79.49% | +30.25% | |
| Volatilityi | 82.97% | 58.80% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.08 | 0.67 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.63 | 0.98 | |
| Max drawdowni | 62.04% | 72.22% | |
| Current drawdowni | 41.86% | 25.66% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 19.69% | 27.89% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 25.44% | 33.90% | |
| Max daily dropi | 46.80% | 29.87% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 51.50% | 32.69% |
| Category | CRDO | COHR |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd | Coherent Corp. |
| Sector | Technology | Technology |
| Industry | Semiconductors | Scientific & Technical Instruments |
| Core business | Credo Technology designs high-speed connectivity ICs and active electrical cable (AEC) assemblies for hyperscale data centers. Its SerDes (serializer-deserializer) IP and HiWire AEC products target 100G-to-800G Ethernet connections within AI GPU clusters, where they compete with active optical cables on cost and power efficiency at shorter reach distances. Credo is fabless and has secured significant design wins at major hyperscalers, particularly Microsoft Azure. | Coherent (formerly II-VI) is a vertically integrated photonics and compound semiconductor company producing optical transceivers, laser components, silicon photonics modules, and specialty glass. Its data center segment — primarily 400G and 800G optical transceivers used in AI infrastructure — is the fastest-growing segment, while defense, telecom, and industrial lasers provide revenue diversification. Coherent acquired Viavi's optical communications business and II-VI merged with Coherent to create the current entity. |
| Investor focus | Investors track hyperscaler customer diversification beyond the initial Microsoft concentration, revenue ramp from AI cluster deployment cycles, gross margin trajectory as AEC volume scales, and design-win announcements for next-generation 1.6T interconnect. | Investors focus on data center transceiver revenue as hyperscalers deploy AI clusters requiring dense optical interconnect, gross margin recovery as silicon photonics scales, and deleveraging progress after the leveraged merger that created the current Coherent. |
- HiWire AEC technology offers lower power and cost than active optical cables at AI GPU cluster intra-rack distances
- Deep Microsoft Azure design win validates the AEC architecture and provides a scalable revenue ramp
- SerDes IP licensing provides recurring, high-margin revenue that diversifies beyond product sales
- Leading position in 800G optical transceivers for AI data centers with design wins across major hyperscalers
- Vertical integration in compound semiconductors (InP, GaAs) and silicon photonics provides supply chain control
- Diversified revenue across data center, telecom, defense, and industrial laser markets reduces single-segment risk
- High customer concentration in Microsoft creates single-account revenue risk
- Coherent, Marvell, and Broadcom all offer competing high-speed interconnect solutions targeting the same AI cluster market
- Hyperscaler capex cycles can cause sharp revenue swings as AI cluster builds accelerate or pause
- Legacy debt from the II-VI/Coherent merger weighs on the balance sheet and limits financial flexibility
- Optical transceiver ASPs are declining as production scales, pressuring gross margins
- Customers like NVIDIA are investing in co-packaged optics that could eventually reduce demand for discrete transceivers
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