Shares of Finisar Corp. FNSR, +8.37% are up 8.2% in Thursday trading after Morgan Stanley analyst Meta Marshall upgraded the stock to overweight and said that Finisar is now at the top of Morgan Stanley's "optical scorecard." The stock is on pace to post its biggest percentage gain in two months. "While near term earnings could continue to see pressure due to 100G datacomm component pricing, upcoming catalyst opportunities could change the dialog around the name starting in the 2H," Marshall wrote. "These catalysts include: completion of the new CEO strategic review in June, introductions of cheaper CWDM4 modules later in the year and 2019, and incremental news around progress on Sherman VCSEL facility in 2H." Finisar's VCSELs are used for facial-recognition tasks on Apple Inc.'s AAPL, +1.11% iPhone X. Separately, Needham analyst James Ricchiuti issued a positive note on one of Finisar's optical rivals, II-VI Inc. IIVI, +1.57% on Thursday. " We believe the long-term ramp in the VCSEL business is on track, with increased capacity and improving yields expected to benefit IIVI over the next year, notwithstanding short-term concerns about 3D sensing in the smartphone market," Ricchiuti wrote of II-VI, whose shares are up 1.9% in Thursday trading. Finisar shares are down 37% in the past 12 months, while II-VI shares are up 29%. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.78% has gained 13% in the past year.