Zacks Research Analysts Cut Earnings Estimates for Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) – Zacks Research lowered their Q1 2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Ciena in a research report issued on Wednesday, August 28th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the communications equipment provider will earn $0.44 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.45. The consensus estimate for Ciena’s current full-year earnings is $1.15 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Ciena’s Q2 2026 earnings at $0.47 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.63 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $2.26 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CIEN. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Ciena from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Raymond James downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley raised Ciena from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.25.

Ciena Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $57.62 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.02. The company has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 3.88, a quick ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $63.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.12. Ciena had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 3.71%. The business had revenue of $910.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $895.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was down 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $199,926.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 372,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,881,601.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $199,926.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 372,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,881,601.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,378 shares of company stock valued at $501,724. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 17,998 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $810,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 68,956 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,104,000 after acquiring an additional 7,966 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 362.8% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 111,507 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,033,000 after acquiring an additional 87,412 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $238,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 949,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,736,000 after acquiring an additional 18,860 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

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.