Why Ciena Shares Popped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of optical networking equipment maker Ciena (NAS: CIEN) are doing their best Superman impression, leaping over tall buildings and short-sellers grasps, after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter results. Shares were up as much as 13% today.

So what: For the quarter, Ciena reported a 14% rise in sales to $477.6 million with an adjusted profit of $0.04 which reversed a year-ago loss of $0.66. This compared favorably with Wall Street's expectation for a loss of $0.03 on just $447 million in revenue. As Ciena CEO Gary Smith has said before, he believes the company's growth in the second half should easily outpace its first-half performance, which could be a green light for investors to buy.

Now what: Following lackluster earnings reports from Cisco Systems (NAS: CSCO) and JDS Uniphase (NAS: JDSU) in the networking and fiber optics space, no one had been expecting Ciena to report strong earnings given the worries in Europe and the tight spending by U.S. telecommunication companies. But Ciena proved those naysayers wrong. I remain very optimistic regarding prospects in the fiber optic sector and Ciena is just one of the many companies that looks poised to benefit.

Craving more input? Start by add Ciena to your free and personalized watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of Cisco Systems. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.