Ciena Converting Skeptics And Finding Its Groove

Ciena (CIEN) has been a patience-testing call at times, as the market has been unwilling to trust this optical equipment provider given a not-so-great history and reputation for its sector. While there are still too many subscale players in optical transport, Ciena is doing well on Tier 1 metro spending, growth overseas in markets like India and Japan, and data center growth. Margins are still a bit of a sensitive subject, but I think management has made a good case for why margins should rebound over time.

With the big post-earnings jump (up more than 10%), it's harder to call Ciena a bargain, though I don't think the upside is tapped out yet. I'm a little concerned that Ciena could disappoint on gross margins in the next quarter and shake some of this newly-won confidence, but this is definitely a name I'd look at again if it were to slide back into the mid-$20s.

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Ciena Converting Skeptics And Finding Its Groove