Ciena Releases Mixed Q3 Results, Names New COO

By Chris Lange Published Sep 3, 9:05AM EDT

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Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN) released its fiscal third-quarter financial results on Thursday before the markets opened. The company said it had $0.37 in earnings per share (EPS) on $602.9 million in revenue. That compared to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of $0.34 in EPS on revenue of $629.87 million. In the same period of the previous year, the company posted EPS of $0.32 and $603.56 million in revenue.

Guidance was offered up for the fiscal fourth quarter. The company expects revenue in a range of $665 million to $700 million, adjusted gross margin of roughly 44% and operating expenses of about $225 million. Consensus estimates are $0.38 in EPS on $662.76 million in revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter.

The company announced that François Locoh-Donou has been appointed senior vice president and chief operating officer, effective November 1. In this new position, Locoh-Donou will assume responsibility for Ciena’s Global Field Organization.

Gary B. Smith, president and CEO of Ciena, commented on earnings:

We delivered strong financial performance in our fiscal third quarter, including increased profitability and cash generation, demonstrating our ability to deliver on our business model and drive continued operating leverage. Despite short-term revenue headwinds related to the timing of network implementations at certain large service provider customers, fundamental demand drivers for our business remain strong. In fact, we now expect to exceed 10% adjusted operating margin for the full fiscal year.

On the books the company had $697.1 million in cash and cash equivalents to end the fiscal third quarter, compared to the end of the previous fiscal year that had $586.7 million.

Shares of Ciena closed Wednesday up 2.2%, at $22.49 in a 52-week trading range of $13.77 to $26.50. Following the release of the earnings report, shares were down 1.1% at $22.25 in early trading indications Thursday. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $27.96.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.