B. Riley Issues Pessimistic Outlook for Ciena Earnings

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) – Research analysts at B. Riley reduced their Q4 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Ciena in a report released on Tuesday, March 11th. B. Riley analyst D. Kang now forecasts that the communications equipment provider will post earnings per share of $0.43 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.51. B. Riley currently has a “Buy” rating and a $89.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Ciena’s current full-year earnings is $1.60 per share. B. Riley also issued estimates for Ciena’s Q1 2026 earnings at $0.22 EPS and Q2 2026 earnings at $0.46 EPS.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on shares of Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.38.

Ciena Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $63.84 on Friday. Ciena has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $82.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The company has a market cap of $9.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.00, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 109,878 shares in the company, valued at $9,300,073.92. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $519,588.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 398,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,453,129.09. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 63,442 shares of company stock valued at $5,337,764 over the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ciena

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 108.6% during the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Ciena by 328.2% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.