Ciena Rises on Mixed Earnings

December 8, 2016 by Chris Lange

Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN) reported its fiscal fourth-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Thursday. The company said that it had $0.44 in earnings per share (EPS) and $716.2 million in revenue, versus consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of $0.46 in EPS on revenue of $716.48 million. In the same period of last year, the telecommunications and networking company posted EPS of $0.42 and $691.97 million in revenue.

U.S. customers played a huge role in this quarter, contributing 61% of total revenue.

In terms of the outlook for the fiscal first quarter, the company expects to see revenues in the range of $615 million to $645 million, gross margin in the mid-40s percentage range and operating expense between $220 million and $225 million.

The consensus estimates call for $0.29 in EPS and $634.6 million in revenue for the fiscal first quarter.

Cash flow from operations totaled $136.7 million for the quarter. On the books, Ciena’s cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $1.05 billion at the end of the quarter, compared with $826.1 million at the end of the 2015 fiscal year.

Gary Smith, president and CEO of Ciena, commented:

Our strong fiscal 2016 results demonstrate our increasingly differentiated performance versus our competitors, marking Ciena’s seventh consecutive year of growing faster than the overall market as well as steady improvement in our operating leverage, profitability and cash flow. We believe that the combination of our leading technology, strategic investments, global scale and business diversification will enable us to continue to take market share and drive operating leverage in fiscal 2017.

Shares of Ciena were last seen up over 14% at $24.81, a new 52-week high. The consensus analyst price target is $26.69 and a 52-week low is $15.62.

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