Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Gap Up on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $221.85, but opened at $236.35. Ciena shares last traded at $231.3330, with a volume of 3,246,580 shares changing hands.

The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Raymond James Financial set a $240.00 price objective on Ciena in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $270.00 target price on Ciena in a research note on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total value of $1,309,748.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 254,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,090,510.70. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,266 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 94.3% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,395 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Ciena by 93.1% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 977 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in Ciena by 80.2% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 6,635 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $967,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth $458,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $157,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $30.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 257.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

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.