Precision Optics Corporation enters the post-earnings session with a sharply improved revenue picture — and a guidance raise that changes the conversation entirely.
The company just reported Q3 fiscal 2026 results after the bell on May 13. Sales hit $8.7 million, more than double the $4.2 million posted a year earlier. EPS came in at -$0.01, a dramatic improvement from -$0.30 in the prior year period. Management then lifted full-year sales guidance from $26–28 million to $29–31 million. For a micro-cap precision optics manufacturer trading at $4.54, that kind of year-on-year revenue growth paired with a guidance raise is the headline that matters most this week.
The positioning picture is quiet and uncontentious. Short interest is negligible — just 0.31% of the float — meaning short sellers have no meaningful bet against the stock. The intra-week uptick of roughly 11% in shares short is noise at this size; the absolute level of borrowed shares is trivially small. Cost to borrow runs near 0.56%, effectively the general collateral rate, confirming that borrow demand is essentially zero. The ORTEX short score of 26.8 ranks in the 91st percentile on a short-squeeze-risk basis, but that reflects thin float mechanics rather than an active short campaign. Availability in the lending pool is not a constraint here in either direction.
Institutional ownership tells a more interesting story. Needham Investment Management, which filed a Form 3 as recently as May 6, holds a commanding 30.6% of shares — and built that stake through a net purchase of 2.6 million shares reported as of late March. That concentration means a single active manager is now the dominant institutional voice on the name. The Pessin family (Brian, Sandra, and Norman) collectively hold another 13-plus percent through individual accounts. With fewer than 30 institutional holders on record, the stock trades in a very tight circle of owners.
Insider activity from March 30 reinforces the constructive picture from inside the building. The CFO bought $75,000 worth of stock at $3.60, and the COO added $150,000 at the same price. The CEO added a smaller amount. All three paid well below the current $4.54, and none of the purchases was tokenistic — the CFO and COO together committed over $225,000. The most recent sale on record was a director disposing of roughly $29,000 in mid-March, a minor and unrelated transaction.
The prior two earnings reactions warrant a note of caution. In February, the stock fell 4.3% the day after results and extended losses to 7.3% over the following five sessions on both occasions. That history of negative post-earnings price action sets the bar against which tonight's guidance raise will be measured. The results just reported are materially stronger — revenue doubling year-on-year, losses compressing sharply, and guidance moving higher — which represents a meaningfully different outcome from those prior prints. What to watch now is whether the after-hours reaction holds into regular trading, and whether Needham's dominant ownership position translates into continued buying support at current levels.
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