CIEN
Ciena Corporation
CIEN has lower modeled downside risk, despite its lower overall score.
SNDK
Sandisk Corporation
SNDK has the edge over CIEN overall, supported by stronger valuation.
CIEN Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Healthy |
CIEN's revenue, profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are all currently healthy.
SNDK Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong |
SNDK's revenue, profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are all currently strong.
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.
SNDK PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | 3.8x | $937 | — |
| Current | 7.5x | $937 | — |
| Cheap | 17x | $2,173 | +132% |
| Fair | 24x | $3,048 | +225% |
| Expensive | 59x | $7,452 | +695% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
SNDK has the edge over CIEN in the historical PE scenario, which offers more potential upside but is not a forecast.
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.
SNDK Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Moderate | |
| High |
Analysts expect strong earnings and revenue growth for SNDK, with profitability improving.
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.
SNDK Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $247.30 | +97% |
| Q3 2026 | $125.61 | +$137.63 |
| Q2 2026 | $73.76 | +$85.07 |
| Q2 2025 | -$11.31 | -$6.65 |
SNDK has the edge over CIEN in the latest year-over-year earnings comparison.
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.
SNDK Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $11B | +378% |
| Q2 2026 | $9B | +372% |
| Q1 2026 | $6B | +251% |
| Q4 2025 | $3B | +61% |
| Q3 2025 | $2.3B | +23% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.9B | +8% |
| Q1 2025 | $1.7B | -0.6% |
| Q4 2024 | $1.9B | +13% |
SNDK has the edge over CIEN on sales, with stronger typical year-over-year growth.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 80% | +72 points |
| Q2 2026 | 78% | +78 points |
| Q1 2026 | 69% | +180 points |
| Q4 2025 | 35% | +25 points |
| Q3 2025 | 7.6% | -9 points |
| Q2 2025 | 0.9% | N/A |
| Q1 2025 | -111% | -122 points |
| Q4 2024 | 10% | +6.6 points |
SNDK has the edge over CIEN on profitability, with a higher operating margin.
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.
SNDK Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $6.3B | +1340% |
| Q2 2026 | $7.1B | +14355% |
| Q1 2026 | $3B | +$3B |
| Q3 2025 | $438M | +$636M |
| Q2 2025 | $49M | +$217M |
| Q1 2025 | -$18M | +$23M |
| Q3 2024 | -$198M | -$157M |
SNDK generated $17.4B in free cash flow over the past year, more than ten times what it generated 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 the edge over SNDK on shareholder dilution, with a more favorable share count trend.
| 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.
SNDK Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -0.6% | -1M shares |
| 1 year | +3.4% | +5M shares |
| 3 years | +6.9% | +10M shares |
SNDK has 154M diluted shares, up 3.4% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $5B |
| Q3 2024 | — |
| Q2 2024 | — |
| Q1 2024 | — |
| Q4 2023 | — |
| Q3 2023 | — |
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.
SNDK Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -0.2x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2026 | -0.4x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2026 | -0.7x | Net Cash |
SNDK has the edge over CIEN on leverage, with a lower net debt burden relative to earnings.
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).
SNDK Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 40.2 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 10.6 | Oversold |
SNDK's weekly RSI is 40 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 11 (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.
SNDK PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | SNDK | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 7.5x | 28x | 73% below |
| PE % | 4 | 27 | 23 pts below |
SNDK has the edge over CIEN on valuation relative to its sector.
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 stronger trend alignment. CIEN is above 2 of 5 weekly averages versus SNDK above 0 of 3.
SNDK Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $1,317.5 | 29% below |
| 20 week MA | $1,465.4 | 36% below |
| 50 week MA | $1,119.6 | 16% below |
SNDK is in a downtrend: it's below all three of its weekly moving averages, and 16% below its 50-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.
SNDK Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $50.4 | $250.1 | +396% |
| 2026 YTD | $250.1 | $937.5 | +275% |
SNDK has the edge over CIEN on returns for 2026, with the stronger performance.