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Bear Of The Day: Ciena (CIEN)

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Ciena (CIEN - Free Report) is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) after the company recently missed the mark on its earnings report.  This article will look at why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) as it is the Bear of the Day.

Description                       

Ciena Corp. is a network technology company, which engages in the provision of hardware, software, and services to network operators, as well as enabling enhanced network capacity, service delivery, and automation. It operates through the following segments: Networking Platforms, Platform Software and Services, Blue Planet Automation Software and Services, and Global Services. The Networking Platforms segment consists of converged packet optical and packet networking portfolios. The Platform Software and Services segment provides analytics, data, and planning tools to assist customers in managing its networking platforms products. The Blue Planet Automation Software and Services segment enables customers to implement large-scale software and IT-led OSS transformations by transforming legacy networks into service ready networks. The Global Services segment offers a broad suite of value-added services. The company was founded by Patrick H. Nettles and Kevin Brian Kimberlin in 1992 and is headquartered in Hanover, MD.

Earnings History

When I look at a stock, the first thing I do is look to see if the company is beating the number.  This tells me right away where the market’s expectations have been for the company and how management has communicated to the market.  A stock that consistently beats has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved.  That is what you want to see.

In the case of Ciena (CIEN - Free Report) I see the company has beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four quarters.  This alone does not make the stock a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and it doesn’t make it a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) either.

The Zacks Rank does care about the earnings history, but it is much more heavily influenced by the movement of earnings estimates.

Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Rank tells us which stocks are seeing earnings estimates move higher or in this case lower.  For Ciena (CIEN - Free Report) I see annual estimates moving lower of late.

The current fiscal year consensus number moved lower from $2.46 to $2.28 over the last 60 days. 

The next year has moved from $3.36 to $3.30 over the last 60 days.

Negative movement in earnings estimates like that is why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

It should be noted that a lot of stocks in the Zacks universe are seeing negative earnings estimate revisions.  That means that the stocks that are seeing small but negative earnings estimate revisions are falling to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).


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