Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) shares had an unusually high trading volume on Friday last week with 5.15 million shares being traded throughout the day.
A daily trading volume of 5.15 million shares is quite high for Ciena considering that its average trading volume for the last 30 days was 3.2 million shares. The higher trading volume on Friday, therefore, symbolizes a significant change from the regular daily trading volume. The company’s stock closed Friday’s trading session at $34.55 after peaking at $34.65 during the trading session after a surge that happened from morning to around noon.
Will there be more volatility in the future?
Ciena’s stock has over the past one week been quite volatile. For example, the stock surged by 9% on Thursday before a slight decline after that, and then the surge on Friday. The surge came after the firm reported Q4 2018 financial results that were better than anticipated. However, the stock since to have kicked off this week on a bearish trend.
Analysts currently estimate that Ciena’s stock will gain 30.25% in the next one year and the current stock price target is $45. The current average price target forecast from analysts stands at $38.18. The current lowest price target for the company’s stock is $25. The stock rose by 3.72% in the last 30 days and by 11.24% over the past three months. Ciena’s stock has so far surged by 65.07% since the start of 2018.
Dougherty & Company analysts are so confident in Ciena’s performance that they changed their price target from $36 to $40. Zacks also adjusted its Q4 consensus estimate by moving it higher over the past one month. Analysts from B. Riley FBR recently placed Ciena’s stock on their watchlist and even gave the stock a “buy” rating. However, Loop Capital analysts recently downgraded from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.
The fact that some analysts have raised their Ciena stock targets might be good news for investors. It could point to remarkable gains in the future as the stock continues to perform well. That being said, Ciena is thus a stock that traders should consider putting on their watch list.
The current earnings per share (EPS) consensus estimate for Ciena in Q4 is $0.48 which represents +4.3% growth on a year over year basis. Analysts also expect the company’s consensus revenue to hit the $861.64 million mark. Cien stock surpassed EPS estimates 57 percent of the time over the last 12 months. It has surpassed revenue forecasts 86% of the time within the same 1-year duration.
So far earnings per share estimates for the fourth quarter have been revised upwards twice, and there have been no downward revisions. Meanwhile, there has only been one upward revision for the revenue estimates but no downward revenue estimate revision. This suggests that investors are confident that the company will perform well this quarter and will possibly maintain the same momentum in the coming year.
About Ciena
Ciena is a U.S-based technology firm that distributes telecommunications networking software, equipment and services all over the world. The company has its headquarters in Maryland, and it has been around since 1992.
Ciena is committed to delivering experiences that provide top-notch outcomes to its clients and the end-users. The company’s products and services traverse multiple fields and abilities including control and automation, analytics and intelligence, as well as programmable infrastructure.
The firm offers solutions such as 5G solutions, Fiber Deep, Liquid Spectrum, GeoMesh DCI and more. Some of its services include Blue Planet MCP, analytics, deployment, management and maintenance, Plan and Design among others.