Ciena (CIEN) , the fiber optic networking provider, is set to announce earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter, ended Oct. 31, before the opening bell tomorrow morning.
For Ciena's 4Q, the sellsiders on the Street expect the company to earn $0.46 per share on revenue of $716.5 million. For the current quarter (Ciena's fiscal first quarter ending Jan. 31, 2017) Street consensus is for earnings of $0.30 per share on $636 million in revenues.
For the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 2017, the Street is currently expecting earnings of $1.71 per share on revenues of $2.8 billion.
Ciena is grappling with quite a few issues at the moment, including pretty active merger and acquisition activity among its largest customers and an uncertain demand environment among its emerging markets client base. The company's three largest clients here at home, Verizon VZ, AT&T ( T) and CenturyLink ( CTL) , have all made large acquisitions recently, and as a result could have turned the focus internally while they digest their respective mergers/acquisitions.
In addition, Verizon has, for now, also slowed its 100G optical technology within its network rollout and may be waiting for Ciena's new chip technology (WaveLogic) to be released before ramping up the rollout to its other metro areas of coverage.
Currently, there are 15 buys, 1 Overweight and 6 Hold ratings on Ciena shares from the sellsiders on the Street.
Shares of Ciena are priced for a slightly under $2 per share move in either direction post earnings tomorrow morning. ($1.90 per share to be precise as of yesterday's close.)
The company will more than likely meet its earnings estimates for the October quarter, although for the reasons that I have outlined above, a slight tightening/lowering of guidance for the current quarter should not come as a surprise to shareholders.
