What happened
Bucking the downward trend of the overall stock market on Wednesday, optical networking specialist Ciena (CIEN +3.78%) saw its share price shoot skyward. The stock closed the day nearly 16% higher thanks to a rather positive quarterly earnings report.
So what
Ciena unveiled its fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2021 that morning. For the quarter, the sturdy tech company booked revenue of $1.04 billion, which was nearly 26% higher on a year-over-year basis. Non-GAAP (adjusted) net income rose 40% to almost $133 million, or $0.85 per share.
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Those figures weren't too far from analysts' expectations. On average, the prognosticators following Ciena stock were modeling $1.03 billion on the top line and $0.86 for per-share, adjusted net profit.
In the earnings report, Ciena quoted its CEO Gary Smith as saying that the improvements were "driven by continued execution of our strategy and our demonstrated ability to manage supply chain challenges." Like other corners of the global economy, the tech sector is struggling with shortages, in this case with a number of the many components that go into modern devices.
Now what
At the end of the day, though, investors were likely more impressed by Ciena's looming future than its recent past. The company is guiding for revenue of $870 million to $910 million in its current first quarter of fiscal 2022, the top end of which is notably above the average $881 million collectively forecast by analysts.
Better still, Ciena believes that for all of 2022, its top-line growth will come in at 11% to 13%. That trounces the average prognosticator expectation of 8%.
The company did not proffer net profit guidance for either the quarter or the fiscal year.
