Big Profit Gooses Ciena

Ciena (CIEN Quote) shares jumped 10% Thursday as the company cast itself as the outfitter to next-generation networks.

The Linthicum, Md., optical networking shop beat adjusted profit expectations for the fiscal fourth quarter, and in the process pulled the year out of the red.

Looking ahead, Ciena called for first-quarter earnings of about 12 cents a share on sequential revenue growth somewhere in the single digits, roughly in line with analysts' estimates. The company also reiterated its outlook for gross margins in the mid-40s percentagewise.

On a conference call with analysts, CEO Gary Smith was asked if he saw any reason to change his fiscal 2007 sales estimate of $686 million. He didn't. ...