Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.15 EPS

by · The Cerbat Gem

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN – Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded down $22.58 on Friday, hitting $219.79. 2,838,534 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,527,329. The company’s fifty day moving average is $187.08 and its 200 day moving average is $127.55. Ciena has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $248.00. The company has a market capitalization of $31.00 billion, a PE ratio of 226.49, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $279.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday. Northland Securities set a $190.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ciena from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.38.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Ciena

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the sale, the director directly owned 54,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,653,914.88. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. This represents a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,266. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 10.4% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $284,313,000 after acquiring an additional 329,821 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 23.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,502,468 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $218,391,000 after buying an additional 281,541 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its position in Ciena by 13.9% in the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,463,211 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $213,146,000 after buying an additional 178,688 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth approximately $102,705,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 340.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,238,745 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $180,448,000 after acquiring an additional 957,187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company’s Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.

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