Zacks Research Weighs in on Ciena’s Q1 Earnings (NYSE:CIEN)

Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) – Zacks Research cut their Q1 2027 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Ciena in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, April 1st. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the communications equipment provider will post earnings of $0.59 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.66. The consensus estimate for Ciena’s current full-year earnings is $1.60 per share.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 target price (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup upped their price target on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $61.53 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Ciena has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The company has a fifty day moving average of $77.71 and a 200-day moving average of $74.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,435,601.52. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 109,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,300,073.92. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,560 shares of company stock valued at $5,406,323. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 195.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $392,345,000 after buying an additional 3,062,883 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its stake in Ciena by 113.7% in the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $183,987,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,260 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $57,861,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 4,215.9% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 899,828 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $76,314,000 after purchasing an additional 878,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,997,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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.