# LightPath Technologies (LPTH.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/LPTH

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:29:56.015Z. Financial observations: FY1997–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $8.20 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 3 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- negative average operating margin

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 3

- Years with a net loss: 7

- Operating margin variation: 2.03×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.15×

- FY2018: 0.01×

- FY2019: -0.05×

- FY2020: 0.06×

- FY2021: -0.05×

- FY2022: -0.07×

- FY2023: -0.11×

- FY2024: -0.25×

- FY2025: -0.32×

- FY2026: -0.02×

### moat: fail

- Years with nonpositive invested capital use equity plus debt and leases; positive earnings with no positive capital are shown above 100%.

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 8.2pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: -4.3%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -20.4%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 8.2 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 35.5%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 27.2%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 1

- Capital spending / revenue: 7.4%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -3.9%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 15.2%

- FY2018: 1.2%

- FY2019: -4.4%

- FY2020: 4.5%

- FY2021: -4.1%

- FY2022: -6.3%

- FY2023: -7.4%

- FY2024: -20.4%

- FY2025: -76.6%

- FY2026: -0.6%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- working capital as a share of revenue rose more than 10pp and ends positive

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: -$44M

- Net income, five-year total: -$51M

- Return on incremental invested capital: -0.0%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 1369341.6 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 8368198.5 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 8368231.5%

Chart: Owner earnings · five years; fiscal year observations.

- FY2022: -$1.6M

- FY2023: -$3.9M

- FY2024: -$6.1M

- FY2025: -$12M

- FY2026: -$21M

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2026 (9 years)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 1.2% vs -20.4%

- Per-share earnings: 0.08 to -0.36 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- acquired goodwill and intangibles (proxy) exceeds half of ten-year net income with low and deteriorating ROIC

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 12.2%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 15.2%

- Market cap gain: $807M

- Cumulative retained earnings: -$55M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 12.2%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 15.2%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2026

- Per-share value change: -$0.45

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $0.08

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: -$0.36

- Buyback history: 0 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $42M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: -$47M

- ROIC, first three-year median: 1.2%

- ROIC, last three-year median: -20.4%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: $0.36

- FY2018: $0.04

- FY2019: -$0.10

- FY2020: $0.03

- FY2021: -$0.12

- FY2022: -$0.13

- FY2023: -$0.13

- FY2024: -$0.21

- FY2025: -$0.36

- FY2026: -$0.38

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -5.3%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.83×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.24×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 5.8%

- FY2018: -3.3%

- FY2019: -6.7%

- FY2020: -6.0%

- FY2021: -14.5%

- FY2022: -9.9%

- FY2023: -2.3%

- FY2024: -17.7%

- FY2025: -8.0%

- FY2026: -5.3%

## Holders

- [Dan Davidowitz](https://gigainvestors.com/pcm): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 52% since May 2026 · sales +92.8%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:05.734Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-09-25: LightPath outlines $90M backlog and accelerated growth as transformation strategy drives record orders ([seekingalpha.com](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4499361-lightpath-outlines-90m-backlog-and-accelerated-growth-as-transformation-strategy-drives?utm_source=feed_news_all&utm_medium=referral&feed_item_type=news))

- 2026-09-11: LightPath signals fiscal 2027 CapEx higher than $6.3M while scaling against $110.9M backlog ([seekingalpha.com](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4641889-lightpath-signals-fiscal-2027-capex-higher-than-6_3m-while-scaling-against-110_9m-backlog?utm_source=feed_news_all&utm_medium=referral&feed_item_type=news))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +92.8%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/889971/000143774926030106/lpth20260630_10k.htm; observed 2026-09-11.

- FY2017: $28M 

- FY2018: $33M 

- FY2019: $34M 

- FY2020: $35M 

- FY2021: $38M 

- FY2022: $36M 

- FY2023: $33M 

- FY2024: $32M 

- FY2025: $37M 

- FY2026: $72M 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 36%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/889971/000143774926030106/lpth20260630_10k.htm; observed 2026-09-11.

- FY2017: 51.9% 

- FY2018: 38.5% 

- FY2019: 37.1% 

- FY2020: 39.6% 

- FY2021: 35.0% 

- FY2022: 33.2% 

- FY2023: 33.6% 

- FY2024: 27.2% 

- FY2025: 27.2% 

- FY2026: 36.0% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in electronic components; annual sales are USD 71.7 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/889971/000143774926030106/lpth20260630_10k.htm (filed 2026-09-11); FY2026: revenue 71722099; grossProfit 25804791; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-10); LPTH.US: LightPath Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes optical systems and assemblies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, China, Rest of Europe, Rest of Asia and internationally. It offers optical components, assemblies and sub-systems, including precision molded glass aspheric optics, thermal imaging assemblies, molded and diamond-turned infrared aspheric lenses, spherical lenses, and other optical components used in products that manipulate light; and infrared products, including catalog and custom infrared optics. The company also offers cooled and uncooled camera systems and modules for long range surveillance and detection, and engineering services. The company's products are used in defense products, border security, perimeter security, night vision systems, medical devices, laser aided industrial tools, automotive safety applications, telecommunications, machine vision and sensors, and other sectors. LightPath Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 27.2% to 36% during 2024–26; it lost 4.3% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-09-11); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 27.2%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-09-11); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 27.2%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/889971/000143774926030106/lpth20260630_10k.htm (filed 2026-09-11); FY2026: grossProfit / revenue = 36%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-09-11); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,0.1520939320450633],[2018,0.0118857425972979],[2019,-0.04374577102287607],[2020,0.04504703685394592],[2021,-0.04135991529217803],[2022,-0.06271154752892438],[2023,-0.07430178184839617],[2024,-0.20396244319715165],[2025,-0.7656075485011306],[2026,-0.005777532686854642]]; median -0.042552843157527054. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Can it raise prices

Kept about a 33% gross margin through 2022 cost inflation.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/889971/000143774926030106/lpth20260630_10k.htm (filed 2026-09-11); Gross margin observations: [[2021,0.34961218199871513],[2022,0.3322529553566507],[2023,0.33627376419390215]]; range within 2 percentage points.

### Where the cash goes

Paid no dividends in 10 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-09-11); FY2017: growth capex 142687; upkeep 2080439; owner earnings 7703086. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.01852335544481783.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-09-11); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 2517685; owner earnings 1946000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-09-11); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 2442779; owner earnings 1848588. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-09-11); Dividend observations: [[2017,0],[2018,0],[2019,0],[2020,0],[2021,0],[2022,0],[2023,0],[2024,0],[2025,0],[2026,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 1.1% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-10); LPTH.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 1.076 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-10.

### What the price says

The price is 6.1 times annual sales; cash earnings are negative.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-09-11); Closing price 8.2 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2026 annual sales per share 1.3437578121670037; price multiple 6.102290104476724. FY2026 cash earnings/share -0.38493380940537364. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $1.65 per share

- 2016-11: $1.40 per share

- 2016-12: $1.54 per share

- 2017-01: $1.73 per share

- 2017-02: $2.35 per share

- 2017-03: $2.74 per share

- 2017-04: $2.70 per share

- 2017-05: $3.02 per share

- 2017-06: $2.70 per share

- 2017-07: $2.58 per share

- 2017-08: $2.61 per share

- 2017-09: $2.56 per share

- 2017-10: $3.98 per share

- 2017-11: $2.50 per share

- 2017-12: $2.22 per share

- 2018-01: $2.40 per share

- 2018-02: $2.13 per share

- 2018-03: $2.20 per share

- 2018-04: $2.00 per share

- 2018-05: $2.11 per share

- 2018-06: $2.30 per share

- 2018-07: $2.38 per share

- 2018-08: $2.14 per share

- 2018-09: $2.02 per share

- 2018-10: $1.82 per share

- 2018-11: $1.80 per share

- 2018-12: $1.49 per share

- 2019-01: $1.65 per share

- 2019-02: $1.71 per share

- 2019-03: $1.50 per share

- 2019-04: $1.50 per share

- 2019-05: $0.98 per share

- 2019-06: $0.91 per share

- 2019-07: $0.71 per share

- 2019-08: $0.78 per share

- 2019-09: $0.84 per share

- 2019-10: $0.69 per share

- 2019-11: $0.58 per share

- 2019-12: $0.73 per share

- 2020-01: $0.63 per share

- 2020-02: $1.23 per share

- 2020-03: $1.07 per share

- 2020-04: $2.37 per share

- 2020-05: $2.32 per share

- 2020-06: $3.34 per share

- 2020-07: $4.32 per share

- 2020-08: $2.47 per share

- 2020-09: $2.41 per share

- 2020-10: $2.40 per share

- 2020-11: $3.11 per share

- 2020-12: $3.92 per share

- 2021-01: $3.77 per share

- 2021-02: $3.95 per share

- 2021-03: $3.10 per share

- 2021-04: $2.60 per share

- 2021-05: $2.38 per share

- 2021-06: $2.54 per share

- 2021-07: $2.37 per share

- 2021-08: $2.28 per share

- 2021-09: $2.13 per share

- 2021-10: $1.95 per share

- 2021-11: $1.96 per share

- 2021-12: $2.44 per share

- 2022-01: $2.40 per share

- 2022-02: $2.08 per share

- 2022-03: $1.97 per share

- 2022-04: $1.58 per share

- 2022-05: $1.66 per share

- 2022-06: $1.23 per share

- 2022-07: $1.79 per share

- 2022-08: $1.44 per share

- 2022-09: $1.07 per share

- 2022-10: $1.11 per share

- 2022-11: $1.22 per share

- 2022-12: $1.22 per share

- 2023-01: $1.50 per share

- 2023-02: $1.75 per share

- 2023-03: $1.41 per share

- 2023-04: $1.32 per share

- 2023-05: $1.43 per share

- 2023-06: $1.35 per share

- 2023-07: $1.79 per share

- 2023-08: $1.77 per share

- 2023-09: $1.45 per share

- 2023-10: $1.59 per share

- 2023-11: $1.24 per share

- 2023-12: $1.26 per share

- 2024-01: $1.37 per share

- 2024-02: $1.50 per share

- 2024-03: $1.38 per share

- 2024-04: $1.42 per share

- 2024-05: $1.30 per share

- 2024-06: $1.26 per share

- 2024-07: $1.44 per share

- 2024-08: $1.29 per share

- 2024-09: $1.37 per share

- 2024-10: $1.59 per share

- 2024-11: $1.66 per share

- 2024-12: $3.53 per share

- 2025-01: $3.00 per share

- 2025-02: $2.28 per share

- 2025-03: $2.01 per share

- 2025-04: $2.35 per share

- 2025-05: $2.80 per share

- 2025-06: $3.08 per share

- 2025-07: $2.99 per share

- 2025-08: $5.35 per share

- 2025-09: $7.93 per share

- 2025-10: $8.68 per share

- 2025-11: $7.35 per share

- 2025-12: $10.80 per share

- 2026-01: $10.42 per share

- 2026-02: $10.43 per share

- 2026-03: $10.03 per share

- 2026-04: $12.81 per share

- 2026-05: $16.98 per share

- 2026-06: $16.35 per share

- 2026-07: $10.37 per share

- 2026-08: $10.06 per share

- 2026-09: $10.31 per share

- 2026-10: $8.20 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2017: low $0.40 per share, central $0.41 per share, high $0.42 per share

- FY2018: low $0.97 per share, central $1.08 per share, high $1.23 per share

- FY2019: low $1.07 per share, central $1.27 per share, high $1.46 per share

- FY2020: low $1.04 per share, central $1.22 per share, high $1.39 per share

- FY2021: low $1.07 per share, central $1.19 per share, high $1.34 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/889971/000143774926030106/lpth20260630_10k.htm); period 2026-06-30, filed 2026-09-11.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.