Ciena
We are a network technology company, providing hardware, software, and services to a wide range of network operators and enabling enhanced network capacity, service delivery, and automation.
10-K, Dec 12, 2025
Source and method
In the company’s words: first descriptive sentence of 10-K Item 1, verbatim (extractive). Item 1 · Business · 10-K · 0001628280-25-056698 · filed Dec 12, 2025
Business
How does Ciena make money?
Networking Platforms is 77.1% of revenue.
Source and method
Revenue by segments, FY2025.
annual report FY2025 · 0001628280-25-056698 · shares derived = part / total revenue
Calculated: share = part revenue ÷ total revenue ($4.8B).
- Networking Platforms: $3.7B · 77.1%
- Global Services: $614M · 12.9%
- Platform Softwareand Services: $364M · 7.6%
- Blue Planet Automation Softwareand Services: $116M · 2.4%
What is left of every $100?
Of every $100 in revenue, $3 is net income.
Source and method
Of every $100 of revenue, FY2025.
Calculated: amount ÷ revenue × 100.
- Revenue: $4.8B
- Gross profit: $2.0B
- Operating income: $198M
- Net income: $123M
- Free cash flow: $665M
Where do customers sit?
75.6% of revenue is from Americas.
Source and method
Revenue by region, latest annual report.
10-K · 0001628280-25-056698 · XBRL revenue by region · one level, shares add up to 100.0% · derived
Calculated: share = region revenue ÷ total revenue.
In the company’s words ›
“Our solutions support network traffic across a wide range of applications, including cloud, voice, video, data, and artificial intelligence (“AI”).”
“Our network solutions are used globally by cloud providers, service providers, and other network operators across multiple industry verticals.”
“Our Networking Platforms, including our Optical Networking portfolio and Routing and Switching portfolio, are solutions applied from the network core to end user access points and allow network operators to scale capacity, increase transmission speeds, allocate traffic efficiently, and adapt dynamically to changing end-user service demands.”
Item 1 · Business · 10-K · 0001628280-25-056698 · filed Dec 12, 2025
Where did the growth actually come from?
Segments were redrawn between FY2016 and FY2025.
Source & method
- Counted
- Segment revenue as filed, first and last fiscal year of the range.
- Formulas
- Change = segment revenue (to) − segment revenue (from); share of growth = change / total revenue change (calculated). Not allocated = total revenue − sum of reported segments (calculated, never filled in).
- Guards
- Segment break: if the company redrew its segments inside the range, no share of growth is claimed. No segment break reported for this company. Values marked “calculated” are derived by Hollsteen, not taken verbatim from a filing.
- Coverage
- SEC filings only · 100 companies covered
- As of
- Oct 15, 2026
Thesis
Why do people invest?
2 reasons in the company’s own words.
Position (in the company’s words)
“We have a broad base of talent in 39 countries, with approximately 56% in the Americas, 36% in APAC, and 8% in EMEA, the majority of whom are in engineering, operations, or sales roles.”
Item 1 · Business · 10-K · 0001628280-25-056698 · filed Dec 12, 2025
R&D investment
“Research and development expense increased by $80.8 million, primarily due to higher incentive compensation.”
Item 7 · MD&A · 10-K · 0001628280-25-056698 · filed Dec 12, 2025
Number check (R&D expense): stated $80.8M matches the stored change ($80.8M, ±10%)
R&D expense: $848M FY2025 · +10.5% vs FY2024 · Profitability charts
Source and method
Verbatim · selection. Sentences selected by rules from the 10-K and checked word for word against it; no AI summary. Not investment advice, not a recommendation, no forecast.
2 of 3 points met the selection rules (score, subject = the metric, quoted number within ±10% of the stored value).
- Platform Software and Services revenue growth: no stored value to check the quoted number against.
KPIs
How fast is revenue growing?
Revenue grew 19% to $4.8B.
Revenue grew 37% YoY to $1.7B.
Source & method
- Counted
- Total revenue, as filed in 10-K / 20-F / 10-Q XBRL.
- Formulas
- Values as filed; margins = metric / revenue of the same period (calculated). Change vs prior period is calculated.
- Guards
- Gaps are shown as 'not reported', never interpolated.
- Coverage
- SEC filings only · 100 companies covered
- As of
- Oct 15, 2026
Did the growth reach the shareholder?
Per share, revenue grew 37.6%.
Source & method
- Counted
- Revenue and weighted-average diluted shares, as filed, first and last fiscal year of the range.
- Formulas
- Revenue per diluted share = revenue / diluted shares; growth = (to / from) − 1. All three changes are calculated.
- Guards
- IPO: if the start year ended more than 365 days before the first SEC filing and diluted shares then rose ≥25%, the range is hidden by default (Options → Include IPO-distorted periods). Values marked “calculated” are derived by Hollsteen, not taken verbatim from a filing.
- Coverage
- SEC filings only · 100 companies covered
- As of
- Oct 15, 2026
How profitable is it?
4.1% operating margin, down from 4.1%.
42.0% gross margin, down from 42.8%.
Operating income grew 19% to $198M.
Net income grew 47% to $123M.
R&D grew 11% to $848M.
SG&A grew 12% to $820M.
EPS diluted grew 47% to $0.85.
18.0% operating margin, up from 6.0%.
45.4% gross margin, up from 41.3%.
Operating income grew 310% YoY to $301M.
Net income grew 430% YoY to $266M.
R&D grew 12% YoY to $237M.
SG&A grew 3.6% YoY to $217M.
EPS diluted grew 423% YoY to $1.83.
Source & method
- Counted
- Income statement items, as filed.
- Formulas
- Values as filed; margins = metric / revenue of the same period (calculated). Change vs prior period is calculated.
- Guards
- Gaps are shown as 'not reported', never interpolated. Values marked “calculated” are derived by Hollsteen, not taken verbatim from a filing.
- Coverage
- SEC filings only · 100 companies covered
- As of
- Oct 15, 2026
How much cash does it make, and where does it go?
Keeps $14 of every $100 as free cash.
Operating cash flow grew 57% to $806M.
Capex grew 3.0% to $141M.
Buybacks grew 31% to $335M.
Stock-based compensation grew 18% to $185M.
Free cash flow fell 14% YoY to $116M.
Operating cash flow grew 13% YoY to $196M.
Capex grew 101% YoY to $80.0M.
Buybacks grew 111% YoY to $173M.
Stock-based compensation grew 23% YoY to $57.9M.
Source & method
- Counted
- Cash flow statement items, as filed; free cash flow = operating cash flow − capex (calculated).
- Formulas
- Values as filed; margins = metric / revenue of the same period (calculated). Change vs prior period is calculated.
- Guards
- Gaps are shown as 'not reported', never interpolated.
- Coverage
- SEC filings only · 100 companies covered
- As of
- Oct 15, 2026
How strong is the balance sheet?
$1.1B cash vs $1.5B debt.
Total debt fell 0.6% to $1.5B.
Interest expense fell 7.9% to $89.4M.
Total assets grew 4.0% to $5.9B.
Equity fell 3.1% to $2.7B.
Cash grew 132% YoY to $2.4B.
Total debt grew 110% YoY to $3.2B.
Interest expense fell 75% YoY to $5.8M.
Total assets grew 39% YoY to $8.0B.
Equity grew 9.7% YoY to $3.1B.
Source & method
- Counted
- Balance sheet items at fiscal year end, as filed; total debt is derived from reported components (excl. operating leases).
- Formulas
- Values as filed; margins = metric / revenue of the same period (calculated). Change vs prior period is calculated.
- Guards
- Gaps are shown as 'not reported', never interpolated.
- Coverage
- SEC filings only · 100 companies covered
- As of
- Oct 15, 2026
Dependencies
Who does Ciena depend on?
No customer above the disclosure threshold.
Customers, suppliers, stakes and mentions ›
Only what filings state. Anonymous customers stay anonymous.
Largest customers (Ciena annual report)
No customer with a reported share of revenue (the 10-K names none above the disclosure threshold).
Suppliers named by Ciena
No supplier among the covered companies is named in the filings.
Ciena holds stakes in
No stake in a covered company found in SEC filings.
Others name Ciena
2 other mentions (e.g. Celestica, HPE) in covered companies’ filings. Mentions, not confirmed relationships.
Risks
What could go wrong?
4 of 36 risk factors, one per theme.
Customer concentration
“Our revenue is concentrated among a small number of customers and reductions in their spending could materially adversely impact our results of operations.”
Item 1A · Risk Factors · 10-K · 0001628280-25-056698 · filed Dec 12, 2025
Competition
“We operate in an intense and evolving competitive landscape and the level of competitive pressure we face may adversely impact our results of operations.”
Item 1A · Risk Factors · 10-K · 0001628280-25-056698 · filed Dec 12, 2025
Security, defects and outages
“Problems affecting the performance, interoperability, reliability or security of our products could damage our business reputation and negatively affect our results of operations.”
Item 1A · Risk Factors · 10-K · 0001628280-25-056698 · filed Dec 12, 2025
Acquisitions
“Acquisitions and other strategic transactions could disrupt our operations and expose us to increased costs and unexpected liabilities.”
Item 1A · Risk Factors · 10-K · 0001628280-25-056698 · filed Dec 12, 2025
Source and method
Short verbatim quotes from the risk factors in Item 1A, one per theme (a partial selection). Full list: 10-K.
Who’s invested
Who owns more than 5%?
Fmr LLC holds 13.5%.
Fmr LLC13.5%
13G/A · as of Jun 30, 2026 · filed Aug 6, 2026
BlackRock, Inc.8%
13G/A · as of Mar 31, 2026 · filed Apr 24, 2026
Vanguard Capital Management LLC7.47%
13G · as of Mar 31, 2026 · filed Apr 29, 2026
Vanguard Portfolio Management LLC5.22%
13G · as of Mar 31, 2026 · filed Apr 29, 2026
Source and method
Holders above 5% from Schedule 13G/13D, SEC filings only.
6 filings reporting a stake below 5% (e.g. after selling) not listed.
13F holders and insider trades ›
Largest institutional holders, 13F, quarter ending Jun 30, 2026
Fmr LLC14.4%
19.1M shares · 13F filed Aug 13, 2026 · share of 13F-reported
BlackRock, Inc.9.6%
12.7M shares · 13F filed Aug 7, 2026 · share of 13F-reported
Jpmorgan Chase & Co8.5%
11.2M shares · 13F filed Aug 12, 2026 · share of 13F-reported
Vanguard Capital Management LLC7.0%
9.2M shares · 13F filed Aug 13, 2026 · share of 13F-reported
Vanguard Portfolio Management LLC5.8%
7.7M shares · 13F filed Aug 13, 2026 · share of 13F-reported
1,225 13F filers report positions. 13F covers managers with over $100M in US equities; it is not a full shareholder list, and shares are not a percentage of shares outstanding. 1 large filing with inconsistent reported value per share left out.
Insiders, last 12 months (Form 4, open market)
0 purchases · 93 sales · $101M sold
Grants, gifts and tax withholding counted separately · window Oct 15, 2025 – Oct 15, 2026
All metrics
All metrics · 33 SEC metrics, FY2016–FY2025
Income statement 11
| Metric | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of revenue | ||||||||||
| G&A | ||||||||||
| Gross profit | ||||||||||
| Income taxes | ||||||||||
| Interest expense | ||||||||||
| Net income | ||||||||||
| Operating income | ||||||||||
| Research and development | ||||||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||||
| SG&A calc. | ||||||||||
| Sales & marketing | ||||||||||
Balance sheet 9
| Metric | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and equivalents | ||||||||||
| Current liabilities | ||||||||||
| Current portion of long-term debt | not reported | not reported | not reported | |||||||
| Equity | ||||||||||
| Equity incl. NCI | ||||||||||
| Long-term debt | ||||||||||
| Total assets | ||||||||||
| Total debt calc. | ||||||||||
| Total liabilities & equity | ||||||||||
Cash flow 6
| Metric | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buybacks | ||||||||||
| Capex | ||||||||||
| Free cash flow calc. | ||||||||||
| Interest paid | ||||||||||
| Operating cash flow | ||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | ||||||||||
Per share & shares 4
| Metric | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS basic | ||||||||||
| EPS diluted | ||||||||||
| Wtd. shares basic | ||||||||||
| Wtd. shares diluted | ||||||||||
Other 3
| Metric | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other income (incl. interest) calc. | ||||||||||
| Pretax income | ||||||||||
| Total liabilities | ||||||||||
Method
extractive: verbatim sentences selected by rules from Item 1, 1A and 7; no AI summary; every sentence matched verbatim against the filing text. Numbers: Hollsteen SEC dataset. Every value opens its SEC source · version history of all values