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To: 2MAR$ who wrote (93)	5/20/2000 12:11:00 PM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 762

Ciena Second-Quarter Profits Beat Estimates By Mark Weinraub NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ciena Corp. (NasdaqNM:CIEN - news) on Thursday reported higher second-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations and forecast future growth as the telecommunications equipment maker's products gained traction in the marketplace. The company said it earned $18.4 million, or 12 cents per diluted share, in its fiscal second quarter ended April 30, compared with a loss of $985,000, or 1 cent per share, in the comparable period of 1999. Revenues rose to $185.7 million from $111.5 million. Ryan Beck & Co. analyst Jordan Estra said Ciena's product development was distinguishing it from competitors in the red-hot optical networking sector. Speak your mind Discuss this story with other people. [Start a Conversation] (Requires Yahoo! Messenger) ``Ciena is at the head of the class in doing this,'' Estra said in a telephone interview. ``They are developing new products which are enhancing capabilities for customers.'' First Call/Thomson Financial, which tracks analysts' forecasts, listed its consensus estimate as a profit of 10 cents a share. Shares of Ciena climbed in after-hours trading, rising to 139 on Island ECN after closing at 137-5/16 on the Nasdaq stock market. ``Increased customer demand for rapid delivery of Ciena's industry-leading optical networking equipment and our successful execution on deployment for new customers are the primary reasons behind our robust performance in the second quarter,'' chief executive Patrick Nettles said. Ciena, which makes equipment that boosts the capacity of fiber-optic networks, said it expected its third and fourth quarter earnings to be slightly above analysts' expectations. First Call listed its consensus estimates for Ciena as 16 cent share profit in the third quarter and 22 cents in the fourth. Additionally, the company, which also makes equipment that routs traffic along communications networks, said it expected strong sequential revenue growth in its third and fourth quarters. Linthicum, Md.,-based Ciena said in a statement seven companies were conducting trials of its new MultiWave CoreDirector optical switch, which it expects to start shipping commercially in the third quarter. Two customers have already made conditional commitments for purchases, Ciena said. Ciena said 22 optical networking companies contributed to its second quarter revenues, up from 13 in the second quarter of fiscal 1999. Earlier this month, Ciena confirmed it won a contract to supply Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE:Q - news) with its MultiWave CoreStream and MultiWave Metro optical transport systems as well as CoreDirector. Terms of the deal, which had been rumored in the market for months, were not disclosed but a Ciena spokeswoman said it could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 18-24 months. The company also said its second quarter revenue included another new customer which has yet to be announced.