Ciena (CIEN)
Information Technology · $52.1B market cap · SEC CIK 0000936395
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Mar 3, 2027, with analysts expecting $2.42 in earnings per share.
The case for CIEN
- Revenue up 32.6% on the year.
- Earnings per share up 362.8%.
- Return on equity of 23%.
- Current assets cover the near-term bills 3.8 times over.
- Up 164.5% over the past year.
The case against
- Very expensive at 79.5× earnings. Years of growth are already in the price.
- Stability is weak (35/100): beta 1.31, 1.9 years of cash flow to clear its debt, a 79% swing over the year.
- Free cash flow is only 1.3% of its market value, a thin cash return for the price.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Information Technology companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 23 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 65 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 53 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 54 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 35 |
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 73 Information Technology companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | 79.5× |
|---|---|
| Price / book | 18.14× |
| Price / sales | 8.6× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +32.6% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | +362.8% |
| Gross margin | 44% |
| Operating margin | 12% |
| Net margin | 11% |
| Return on equity | 23% |
| Debt / equity | 1.06× |
| Current ratio | 3.80 |
| Dividend yield | none |
| Beta | 1.31 |
| 52-week range | $133.67 – $637.51 |
| Position in that range | 47% of the way up |
| 3-month return | -14.5% |
| 1-year return | +164.5% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from Ciena's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.8B | $4.0B | $4.4B | $3.6B | $3.6B |
| Gross profit | $2.0B | $1.7B | $1.9B | $1.6B | $1.7B |
| Operating income | $198M | $167M | $358M | $223M | $495M |
| Net income | $123M | $84.0M | $255M | $153M | $500M |
| Operating cash flow | $806M | $515M | $168M | -$168M | $542M |
| Capital expenditure | $141M | $137M | $106M | $90.8M | $79.5M |
| Total assets | $5.9B | $5.6B | $5.6B | $5.7B | $4.9B |
| Total liabilities | $3.1B | $2.8B | $2.7B | $2.8B | $2.1B |
| Shareholder equity | $2.8B | $2.8B | $2.9B | $2.8B | $2.8B |
| Cash | $1.1B | $875M | $1.3B | $1.1B | $1.1B |
| Long-term debt | $1.5B | $1.5B | $1.5B | $1.5B | — |
| Free cash flow | $665M | $378M | $62.1M | -$259M | $462M |
| Gross margin | 42.0% | 42.8% | 42.8% | 43.0% | 47.6% |
| Operating margin | 4.1% | 4.1% | 8.2% | 6.1% | 13.7% |
| Net margin | 2.6% | 2.1% | 5.8% | 4.2% | 13.8% |
| Diluted shares | 145M | 146M | 149M | 152M | 157M |
Share count is down 7.3% over 4 years. Buybacks have been shrinking the pie.
What Ciena says it does
—Information About Our Executive Officers." The additional information required by this item concerning our directors, compliance with Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, our Audit Committee, and our insider trading policies is incorporated herein by reference from the information contained under the captions "Information regarding nominees and continuing directors," "Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports," "Composition and meetings of the Board of Directors and its Committees – Audit Committee", and "Principles of Corporate Governance, Bylaws, and other governance documents – Insider Trading Policy," respectively, in our definitive proxy statement with respect to our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year covered by this annual report. As part of our system of corporate governance, our Board of Directors has adopted a code of ethics that is specifically applicable to our…
Risk factors CIEN lists in its 10-K
- Risks Related to Financial Performance and Strategy
- Our revenue, gross margin, and operating results can be adversely impacted by a number of factors that would cause our results to fluctuate
- Our revenue is concentrated among a small number of customers and reductions in their spending could materially adversely impact our results of operations
- Our growth is dependent on executing our strategy and expanding our addressable market, and we may not be successful
- We operate in an intense and evolving competitive landscape and the level of competitive pressure we face may adversely impact our results of operations
- Acquisitions and other strategic transactions could disrupt our operations and expose us to increased costs and unexpected liabilities
- Risks Related to Technology Development and Intellectual Property
- Misaligned or delayed technology investments may adversely impact our return on innovation, impair our strategy and weaken our competitive position
- We may experience difficulties in the development and production of our products that may negatively affect our competitive position and results of operations
- Problems affecting the performance, interoperability, reliability or security of our products could damage our business reputation and negatively affect our results of operations
- Our intellectual property rights may be difficult and costly to enforce
- We may incur significant costs in response to claims that we infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others
- Our failure to effectively align our supply chain capacity and inventory levels with customer demand can adversely impact our results of operations and customer relationships
- Our business may be adversely affected by risks associated with our third-party contract manufacturers’ businesses, financial condition, and the geographies in which they operate