Ciena Announces Preliminary Fiscal First Quarter 2022 Results

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN), a networking systems, services and software company, today announced unaudited preliminary financial results for its fiscal first quarter ended January 29, 2022. All information in this press release is approximate due to the preliminary nature of the announcement and is subject to normal quarter-end accounting review.

For the fiscal first quarter 2022, revenue is now expected to be in the range of $840 to $850 million, compared to the company’s previous expectation of $870 to $910 million. Ciena’s GAAP gross margin for the fiscal first quarter is expected to be approximately 44% to 45%. Adjusted (non-GAAP) gross margin for fiscal first quarter is expected to be approximately 45% to 46%, at the high end of the previous guidance of 43% to 46%. Ciena’s GAAP operating expense for the fiscal first quarter is expected to be approximately $324 million. Adjusted (non-GAAP) operating expense for the quarter is expected to be approximately $290 million, in line with the previous guidance. Appendix A below sets forth reconciliations between the GAAP and adjusted (non-GAAP) measures contained in this press release.

“In our fiscal first quarter, we experienced several specific disruptions in the supply chain late in the quarter that exacerbated an already-challenging macro supply situation, which reduced our flexibility to fully mitigate these additional disruptions in the quarter. Nevertheless, we continue to see an unprecedented level of demand for our products and services, as evidenced by extraordinary orders growth and underpinned by an overall acceleration of cloud adoption and traffic growth,” said Gary Smith, president and CEO, Ciena.

Smith continued, “The combination of a very positive demand environment as well as expanding supply chain capacity aligned with increased visibility into the remainder of the year based on our order flow and backlog, provides us greater confidence in our ability to achieve our fiscal 2022 financial objectives. Accordingly, we continue to expect to achieve our revenue guidance of 11% to 13% annual growth for fiscal 2022.”

Live Web Broadcast of Preliminary Fiscal First Quarter Results

Ciena's management will host a discussion today with investors and financial analysts. The live audio web broadcast beginning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern will be accessible via www.ciena.com. An archived replay of the live broadcast will be available shortly following its conclusion in the Events & Presentations section of the Investor Relations page of Ciena's website.