Zacks Research Issues Optimistic Outlook for Ciena Earnings

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research lifted their Q2 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Ciena in a note issued to investors on Thursday, January 2nd. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the communications equipment provider will earn $0.29 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $0.24. The consensus estimate for Ciena’s current full-year earnings is $1.13 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Ciena’s Q3 2025 earnings at $0.36 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $0.35 EPS and Q2 2026 earnings at $0.49 EPS.

CIEN has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.00.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $83.61 on Monday. Ciena has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $91.82. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $74.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.06. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $11.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.95, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 3.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Ciena by 2.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Ciena by 925.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 5.4% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,485,797.71. This represents a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,971 shares of company stock valued at $871,799 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ciena Company Profile

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.