BofA Securities upgraded Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) from Neutral to Buy and raised its price target to $355 from $260.
The firm said it had previously taken a cautious stance on the networking sector due to concerns about slowing spending growth and the potential for backlog and deferred revenue declines. However, after conducting a deeper analysis of expected data center expansion and reviewing updated spending outlooks from major cloud providers, BofA concluded that its earlier caution may have been premature.
The analyst noted that while the optical networking market remains cyclical, cloud infrastructure spending continues to show strength. Major cloud players, including hyperscalers, Tier-2 cloud providers, and emerging neocloud operators, are expected to significantly expand data center capacity over the next three years.
As a result, BofA upgraded its rating on Ciena and revised its valuation methodology to reflect stronger growth expectations. The new price target is based on 44 times projected calendar-year 2027 earnings, compared with 39 times previously.
