This post was originally published on Light Reading
Gary Smith’s sports analogy would have left a few American analysts perplexed. “We are just on the first day of the five-day, sparkling cricket match,” said the Ciena boss, quizzed about the outlook in India during the company’s third-quarter earnings outlook. If Americans would have preferred talk of home runs, Smith could also claim to have hit the ball out of the park.
The chart for Ciena’s share price over the last three months is effectively U-shaped. In June, when the optical equipment maker reported second-quarter figures, it tumbled a tenth on concern about the backlog of orders and a downward revision to guidance. Today, it rose 13% when the New York Stock Exchange opened after Smith boasted of market-share gains and strong demand for Ciena’s collection of products. India, where Ciena is benefiting from anti-Huawei sentiment and a major 5G rollout, supplies just one reason to applaud.
Ciena CEO Gary Smith, currently batting sixes for his company.
(Source: YouTube, Ciena)
Last time round, analysts seemed unable to decide if the order backlog had dropped because supply-chain constraints had eased or if this was an indicator of weakening demand. Just $1.2 billion before the pandemic, it
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