Brokers Set Expectations for Ciena’s Q4 Earnings (NYSE:CIEN)

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) – Equities researchers at B. Riley cut their Q4 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Ciena in a report issued on Tuesday, March 11th. B. Riley analyst D. Kang now forecasts that the communications equipment provider will post earnings per share of $0.43 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.51. B. Riley currently has a “Buy” rating and a $89.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Ciena’s current full-year earnings is $1.60 per share. B. Riley also issued estimates for Ciena’s Q1 2026 earnings at $0.22 EPS and Q2 2026 earnings at $0.46 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on CIEN. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Ciena Trading Down 6.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $62.30 on Friday. Ciena has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $101.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.30, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.22.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of Ciena

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Ciena by 108.6% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 328.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $519,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 398,549 shares in the company, valued at $30,453,129.09. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 63,442 shares of company stock worth $5,337,764. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.