CIEN
Ciena Corporation
CIEN's fundamentals are strong, but it looks expensive: trading at 66x earnings, about twice its usual 32x. Analysts expect strong earnings growth, though they disagree widely on how much.
CIEN Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Healthy |
CIEN's revenue, profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are all currently healthy.
CIEN PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 21x | $94.56 | -68% |
| Forward | 24x | $294 | — |
| Fair | 32x | $142 | -52% |
| Current | 66x | $294 | — |
| Expensive | 133x | $595 | +103% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
CIEN's PE is in its expensive range at 66x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 24x next year's earnings, in its cheap range.
CIEN Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Moderate | |
| Low |
Analysts expect strong earnings and revenue growth for CIEN, with profitability improving. However, they disagree widely on these estimates.
CIEN Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $12.01 | +168% |
| Q3 2026 | $4.48 | +357% |
| Q2 2026 | $3.00 | +311% |
| Q1 2026 | $1.57 | +185% |
| Q4 2025 | $0.85 | +47% |
| Q3 2025 | $0.98 | +4.3% |
| Q2 2025 | $0.73 | -30% |
| Q1 2025 | $0.55 | -64% |
| Q4 2024 | $0.58 | -66% |
CIEN's earnings per share have jumped to their highest in seven years: $4.48 over the past year, up from $0.98 the year before.
CIEN Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $1.7B | +37% |
| Q2 2026 | $1.6B | +40% |
| Q1 2026 | $1.4B | +33% |
| Q4 2025 | $1.4B | +20% |
| Q3 2025 | $1.2B | +29% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.1B | +24% |
| Q1 2025 | $1.1B | +3.3% |
| Q4 2024 | $1.1B | -0.5% |
CIEN's revenue has grown year over year for seven quarters in a row: $1.7B last quarter, up 37% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 18% | +12 points |
| Q2 2026 | 15% | +12 points |
| Q1 2026 | 13% | +5.8 points |
| Q4 2025 | 0.8% | -4.5 points |
| Q3 2025 | 6% | +3.2 points |
| Q2 2025 | 2.9% | +3.4 points |
| Q1 2025 | 7.5% | -0.6 points |
| Q4 2024 | 5.3% | -2.8 points |
CIEN's operating margin was 18% last quarter, up 12 points from the same quarter a year ago, near the top of its range since 2019.
CIEN Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $116.3M | -14% |
| Q2 2026 | $218.7M | +71% |
| Q1 2026 | $153.8M | +100% |
| Q4 2025 | $325.6M | +23% |
| Q3 2025 | $134.6M | +$313.6M |
| Q2 2025 | $128.2M | +208% |
| Q1 2025 | $76.8M | -69% |
| Q4 2024 | $265.8M | +54% |
CIEN generated $814M in free cash flow over the past year, up 35% from the year before.
CIEN Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -0.2% | -347K shares |
| 1 year | +1% | +1.5M shares |
| 3 years | -2.7% | -4M shares |
| 5 years | -6.9% | -10.8M shares |
| Available history | -7.4% | -11.6M shares |
CIEN has 146M diluted shares, up 1% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $173M |
| Q2 2026 | $84.4M |
| Q1 2026 | $80.5M |
| Q4 2025 | $84.5M |
| Q3 2025 | $81.8M |
| Q2 2025 | $87M |
| Q1 2025 | $81.2M |
| Q4 2024 | $128.7M |
CIEN spent $422M buying back its own shares over the past year, up 12% from the year before.
CIEN Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 0.9x | Very low |
| Q2 2026 | 0.7x | Very low |
| Q1 2026 | 0.9x | Very low |
| Q4 2025 | 1.4x | Healthy |
| Q3 2025 | 1.3x | Healthy |
| Q2 2025 | 1.8x | Healthy |
| Q1 2025 | 2.3x | Moderate |
| Q4 2024 | 2.1x | Moderate |
CIEN's net debt is less than a year of its operating earnings (EBITDA), down from 1.3 years a year ago.
CIEN Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 42.5 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 14.1 | Oversold |
CIEN's weekly RSI is 43 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 14 (oversold).
CIEN PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | CIEN | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 66x | 28x | 136% above |
| PE % | 70 | 35 | 35 pts above |
CIEN is trading at 66x earnings, a 136% premium to the Technology sector's median of 28x.
CIEN Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $338.6 | 13% below |
| 20 week MA | $368.5 | 20% below |
| 50 week MA | $375.1 | 22% below |
| 100 week MA | $238.4 | 23% above |
| 200 week MA | $144.4 | 104% above |
CIEN has pulled back, but its long-term trend is still up: it's below its 8-, 20- and 50-week averages, but 104% above its 200-week average.
CIEN Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $42.7 | $53.3 | +25% |
| 2021 | $53.3 | $76.0 | +43% |
| 2022 | $76.0 | $49.3 | -35% |
| 2023 | $49.3 | $45.0 | -8.8% |
| 2024 | $45.0 | $86.7 | +93% |
| 2025 | $86.7 | $241.7 | +179% |
| 2026 YTD | $241.7 | $294.0 | +22% |
CIEN has finished higher in four of the last six years, two of them by more than 50%. It's up 22% so far in 2026.