— Why it moved
Why LASE Stock Nearly Tripled Today — June 2, 2026
A Pentagon anti-drone evaluation slot — not an order — plus 16% short interest sent this laser stock from under a buck to an after-hours print of $3.67.
What moved it
Laser Photonics said its Laser Shield anti-drone system was selected under the MEIA "Vulcan" Call for Solutions, which puts it into a formal defense technical evaluation. The company itself was careful to say this is a review, not a procurement order. Traders read "Pentagon" and "anti-drone" and skipped the fine print. A $250K Johnson & Johnson order at its CMS Laser unit was on the tape the same week.
The mechanics
Sub-$1 stock, 10.8M-share float, and roughly 16% of that float sold short. Squeeze fuel plus a defense headline. The float changed hands about 26 times in one day.
Numbers
- Cap: ~$35M / float: 10.8M
- Short interest: ~16% of float
- Day volume: ~287M (~180x avg)
- Prev close: $0.93 / 52w range: $0.38–$6.77
Where it ended up
The stock had already doubled off the prior close when Stock Pulse flagged it at 12:45 PM ET at $1.98. It ground higher into a $2.43 close, then the after-hours crowd took it to $3.67 by 5:39 PM, up 86% from the alert. By 8 PM it had given a fifth of that back, ending the evening near $2.97.
Reality check
- An evaluation slot is a pipeline step. Nothing was ordered and nothing was booked.
- The after-hours peak faded 19% before the extended session even closed.
- This already happened. It's a breakdown of why it ran, not a reason to buy it.