Ciena (CIEN)
Information Technology · $38.2B market cap · SEC CIK 0000936395
ahead of 7% of the S&P 500 · #67 of 73 in Information Technology
Next reports on Dec 10, 2026, before the open, with analysts expecting $2.13 in earnings per share.
52-week range $168.22 to $637.51. 57% below its 52-week high and 62% above its low.
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.
The case against
- Expensive for its growth: 58.4× earnings, where 7% a year of growth would justify about 18×.
- The price trend is weak (34/100): +20.8% over a year, −41.0% over three months, 57% below its 52-week high.
- Stability is weak (32/100): beta 1.33, 1.9 years of cash flow to clear its debt, a 74% swing over the year.
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. The score is where that blend places it in the S&P 500. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings and cash, against the growth you get | 11 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 44 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 51 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 34 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 32 |
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 73 Information Technology companies.
The financials
Revenue growth
Is the business growing? Yes
| Last 12 months | +32.6% |
|---|---|
| Over 5 years | +6.2% a year |
| FY2025 revenue | $4.8B (+19%) |
Free cash flow
Is it generating real cash? Yes
| FY2025 free cash flow | $665M |
|---|---|
| Of revenue | 14% |
| Of profit | 539% |
Profit margins
Is profitability improving? Yes, improving
| Gross margin | 44% |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | 12% |
| Net margin, FY24 → FY25 → now | 2.1% → 2.6% → 10.9% |
Debt vs. cash
Is the balance sheet healthy? Yes, the debt is manageable
| Cash | $1.1B |
|---|---|
| Long-term debt | $1.5B |
| Net debt | $432M |
| Years to repay | 1.9 yrs |
Valuation
Is the stock price reasonable? No, expensive
| P/E | 58.4× |
|---|---|
| Fair P/E for its growth | 18× |
| P/FCF | 57.4× |
| Forward P/E | 38.0× |
| EV / EBITDA | 52.0× |
At 58.4× earnings it trades well above the 18× that 7% a year of growth would justify. At 57.4× free cash flow it trades well above that same mark.
The financials, five years deep
Pulled from Ciena's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are worked out from the others.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | |||||
| Revenue | $4.8B | $4.0B | $4.4B | $3.6B | $3.6B |
| Change on the year | +19% | −8% | +21% | 0% | — |
| Free cash flow | |||||
| Free cash flow | $665M | $378M | $62.1M | −$259M | $462M |
| Of revenue | 14% | 9% | 1% | −7% | 13% |
| Profit margins | |||||
| 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% |
| Debt vs. cash | |||||
| Cash | $1.1B | $935M | $1.0B | $994M | $1.4B |
| Long-term debt | $1.5B | $1.5B | $1.5B | $1.1B | $670M |
| Net cash (debt) | −$432M | −$598M | −$533M | −$66.8M | $752M |
What Ciena says it does
Overview We are a network technology company, providing hardware, software, and services to a wide range of network operators and enabling enhanced network capacity, service delivery, and automation. Our solutions support network traffic across a wide range of applications, including cloud, voice, video, data, and artificial intelligence (“AI”). Our network solutions are used globally by cloud providers, service providers, and other network operators across multiple industry verticals. Our Networking Platforms, including our Optical Networking portfolio and Routing and Switching portfolio, are solutions applied from the network core to end user access points and allow network operators to scale capacity, increase transmission speeds, allocate traffic efficiently, and adapt dynamically to changing end-user service demands. Complementing our Networking Platforms, we offer Platform Software, which delivers multi-layer domain control and…