Ciena reports larger 1st-quarter loss, missing Wall Street’s expectations; shares fall

Ciena posts larger fiscal 1Q loss, shares fall

LINTHICUM, Md. — Telecommunications equipment maker Ciena Corp. on Thursday posted a larger net loss for its fiscal first quarter as it recorded costs from its pending acquisition of Nortel’s optical networking and carrier ethernet businesses.

The results missed Wall Street’s expectations, and the company’s shares declined in premarket trading.

For the three months ended Jan. 31, the company posted a net loss of $53.3 million, or 58 cents per share, compared with a loss of $24.8 million, or 27 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Excluding items, Ciena lost 12 cents per share in the latest quarter.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $175.9 million from $167.4 million.

Analysts, on average, projected a loss of 6 cents per share on sales of $184.6 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Ciena said delays in recognizing revenue from new products with some of its customers hurt revenue in the quarter.

“However, with strong order flow in the quarter we remain encouraged by continued signs of an improving market environment,” said Gary Smith, Ciena’s CEO and president, in a statement.

For the current quarter, Ciena forecast revenue between $185 million and $195 million.

Analysts expect sales of $194.5 million.

Shares fell $1.29, or 8.9 percent, to $13.26 in premarket trading. The stock has ranged from $5.19 to $16.64 over the past year.