Business Corpus: Ciena Stock Soars After Telecom Gear Maker Trounces Q3 TargetsNetworking equipment maker Ciena on Thursday easily topped Wall Street's targets for its fiscal third quarter and guided higher for sales in the current quarter. Ciena stock jumped on the news. The post Ciena Stock Soars After Telecom Gear Maker Trounces Q3 Targets appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

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Networking equipment maker Ciena (CIEN) on Thursday easily topped Wall Street's targets for its fiscal third quarter and guided higher for sales in the current quarter. Ciena stock jumped on the news.

The Hanover, Md.-based company earned an adjusted 48 cents a share on sales of $818.8 million in the quarter ended July 31. Analysts expected it to earn 36 cents a share on sales of $791 million. On a year-over-year basis, earnings per share rose 37% while sales climbed 12%. Ciena's earnings growth was its fastest in 10 quarters.

For the current quarter, Ciena expects revenue in the range of $845 million to $875 million. The midpoint of $860 million topped the consensus forecast of $849 million.

"One minor blemish was that gross margin in fiscal Q4 could be down quarter-to-quarter mainly due to new deployments with higher startup costs," B. Riley FBR analyst Dave Kang said in a report. Ciena continues to invest in its Packet and WaveLogic product lines, he said.

Ciena Stock Surges Out Of Buy Zone

Ciena stock popped 12.5% higher to 30.71 on the stock market today. Ciena stock broke out of a 63-week cup-with-handle base at a buy point of 27.83 on Aug. 24. It quickly surged out of the buy zone on Thursday.

Networking hardware accounted for nearly 83% of revenue in the third quarter. Software provided 5% of sales, and services contributed the remaining 12%. The lion's share of hardware sales came from the company's converged packet optical systems, it said.

Chief Executive Gary Smith said customer demand for Ciena's products and services was robust and broad-based last quarter.

"With our diversification, global scale and innovation leadership, we remain confident in our business model and our ability to achieve our three-year financial targets," he said in a news release.

Ciena Earnings Miss Views; New International Orders Hit Margins

The post Ciena Stock Soars After Telecom Gear Maker Trounces Q3 Targets appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.