Ciena hit its numbers easily enough yesterday, but the market doesn’t seem to like its guidance for the fiscal Q4. They’ve had a series of strong reports, I suppose it was inevitable that the bar would be raised too high. Here is a quick summary in some context:
$ in millions | FQ3/13 | FQ4/13 | FQ1/14 | FQ2/14 | FQ3/14 | FQ4/14 |
-Converged Packet-Optical | 302.0 | 350.9 | 333.4 | 356.8 | 382.0 | |
-Packet Networking | 61.6 | 61.2 | 51.7 | 66.5 | 69.5 | |
-Optical Transport | 66.2 | 52.6 | 40.1 | 29.6 | 31.0 | |
-Software and Services | 108.6 | 118.7 | 108.5 | 107.1 | 121.1 | |
Revenue | 538.4 | 583.4 | 533.7 | 560.0 | 603.6 | 570-610 |
Adj. OPEX | 190.4 | 210.5 | 199.8 | 206.3 | 206.3 | ~210 |
Adj. GM% | 43.6% | 40.8 | 43.4% | 41.3% | 44.3% | high 30%s to low 40%s |
Adj. EPS | 0.23 | 0.16 | 0.13 | 0.17 | 0.32 |
Revenues of $603.6 million were within the guided range and a touch higher than analyst estimates, while adjusted earnings per share of $0.32 were a few pennies above projections as well.
But the street was looking for a big fiscal Q4 with revenues in the $629 million range, a number Ciena’s guidance of $570-610 million fell rather short of.
According to the PR, fiscal Q4 will be “impacted by several significant variables that contribute to a broader range of potential outcomes for both revenue and gross margin than typically expected.” That’s not very specific so I suppose we’ll have to wait for the call to get a bit more color.
This article was authored by Rob Powell and was originally posted on Telecomramblings.com
Rob Powell is founder & editor of Telecom Ramblings, which was set up in 2008. The website is dedicated to discussing trends and developments in the telecom industry.