Ciena falls on weak full-year guidance despite Q1 beat

Investing.com -- Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) reported first-quarter fiscal 2026 results that exceeded Wall Street expectations, but shares fell 5.1% premarket as the company's full-year revenue guidance came in well below analyst estimates.

The networking equipment maker posted adjusted EPS of $1.35, beating the analyst consensus of $1.16 by $0.19. Revenue reached $1.43 billion, up 33% YoY from $1.07 billion in the prior-year period and slightly above the $1.4 billion analyst estimate. The company attributed the strong quarter to broad-based demand driven by AI investments.

However, Ciena's fiscal 2026 revenue guidance of $5.9 billion to $6.3 billion disappointed investors. The midpoint of $6.1 billion falls significantly short of the $6.99 billion analyst consensus. For the second quarter, the company expects revenue of $1.5 billion, plus or minus $50 million.

"We delivered a very strong fiscal first quarter, driven by focused execution and unprecedented, broad-based demand as we enable customers to monetize their AI investments," said Gary Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ciena.

The company's Optical Networking segment generated $1.02 billion in revenue, representing 71.7% of total revenue and up from $728 million in the year-ago quarter. Three customers accounted for more than 10% of revenue each, totaling 47.4% of sales.

Ciena repurchased approximately 0.4 million shares for $80.5 million during the quarter under its $1 billion share repurchase program. The company reported adjusted operating margin of 17.9%, up from 12.3% in the prior-year period.

For the second quarter, Ciena expects adjusted gross margin between 43.5% and 44.5% and adjusted operating margin between 17.5% and 18.5%.

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