Shares of Ciena Corp. CIEN, -0.44% charged up 5.8% in premarket trading Thursday, after the optical networking company reported fiscal third-quarter profit that beat expectations and a surprise growth in revenue, and provided an upbeat outlook citing a robust demand environment. Net income for the quarter to July 31 rose to $238.2 million, or $1.52 a share, from $142.3 million, or 91 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding non-recurring items, such as a $124.2 million tax benefit related to a transfer of intangible assets, adjusted earnings per share fell to 92 cents from $1.06 but was above the FactSet consensus of 80 cents. Revenue grew 1.2% to $988.1 million from $976.7 million, while the FactSet consensus was for a decline to $969.6 million. Gross margin improved to 48.0% from 47.6%. “These results combined with a robust demand environment give us confidence that we will deliver our expected strong second half performance,” said Chief Executive Gary Smith. The stock has gained 4.5% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.03% has tacked on 7.5%.
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