Zacks Research Comments on Ciena’s Q2 Earnings (NYSE:CIEN)

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q2 2025 earnings per share estimates for Ciena in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, January 2nd. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the communications equipment provider will post earnings per share of $0.29 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.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.00.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $84.40 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. Ciena has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $91.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.79, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $75.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.32.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total transaction of $235,050.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,435,197.48. The trade was a 5.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 30,219 shares of company stock worth $2,487,621. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ciena

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,334,290,000 after purchasing an additional 108,407 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 119.9% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,943,146 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,439,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $273,427,000 after purchasing an additional 53,078 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Ciena by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $148,348,000 after purchasing an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.