Ciena Climbs as Results Top Forecasts

Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN) jumped US$15.06 to $91.88 in morning trading Thursday -- a 20 percent leap -- after beating analyst estimates for the first quarter ended January 31st, and issuing an upbeat outlook for the rest of the fiscal year.

"Ciena continues to see robust growth opportunities across its family of next-generation intelligent optical networking products," said chairman and chief executive officer Patrick Nettles. "We believe Ciena's strong growth and good order visibility in an otherwise uncertain carrier spending environment results from our exclusive focus on next-generation optical networking equipment."

The Linthicum, Maryland-based company said that revenue rose more than 130 percent from a year earlier, to $352.0 million.

Income before payroll tax on stock-option exercises totaled $54.1 million, or 18 cents per fully diluted share, up from $9.1 million, or 3 cents, a year earlier and ahead of analyst per-share estimates of 15 cents.

Ciena also raised its revenue growth projection for the current year.

"We expect our business will continue to grow faster than the overall market, provided we execute successfully," Nettles said.

"We now believe we will be able to achieve 2001 revenue growth of between 95 to 105 percent over last year, which translates into a revenue range of between $1.67 to $1.76 billion for fiscal year 2001," he added.

Ciena president and chief operating officer Gary Smith said the company is positioned to "successfully navigate and grow," even as companies cut back on technology spending.

According to Smith, the company's focus on next-generation equipment means that it stands "to be a primary beneficiary as carriers shift spending away from legacy equipment to intelligent optical networks that will enable them to lower capital and operating costs."