Ciena beats the estimates

Providing a bit of good news in a shaky time for the technology sector, Cinea reported fiscal fourth quarter and year-end earnings that exceeded consensus analyst estimates.

For the quarter ended October 31, Ciena reported $287.6 million in revenue compared to $233.3 million the previous quarter and $141.4 million year over year. Pro forma net income for the quarter, excluding doubtful accounts and payroll tax on stock option exercises was $41.3 million, or $0.14 per share, Consensus estimate on FirstCall predicted earnings of $0.12 per share.

According to Gary Smith, Ciena’s president and chief operating officer, a majority of the company’s revenue for the quarter came from its long haul products. Growth, he said was driven by Ciena’s metro optical transport offerings, which accounted for 10% of quarter’s revenue, and the CoreDirector intelligent optical switch, which the company predicts will generate $50 million in revenue for calendar year 2000.

“I think its fair to say we’re delighted with the results for the quarter, the third quarter in a row where we’ve demonstrated better than 20% sequential growth…I think this fundamentally reflects a shift in demand from legacy systems to next generation intelligent optical networks,” said Smith.

For the fiscal year, the company posted revenues of $858.8 million, up 78% from fiscal 1999. Pro forma net income for the year was $98.4 million, which breaks down to $0.33 per share. Consensus estimates for the year had placed earnings at $0.31 per share.

In addition to the strong earnings report, Ciena upped its guidance for fiscal year 2001, anticipating revenue growth of 75% to 85% year over year. The company also announced that it increased its customer base by four. Ciena now has 42 customers, of which 27 contributed to the company’s fourth-quarter revenue.