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Strategies & Market Trends : Technical analysis for shorts & longs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (44946)	8/12/2008 12:48:33 AM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69852

Ciena shares up 7 percent on Morgan Keegan upgrade Monday August 11, 6:11 pm ET Ciena shares up 7 percent after Morgan Keegan upgrades stock to 'Outperform' WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ciena Corp. shares rose sharply Monday after Morgan Keegan & Co. upgraded the stock to "Outperform" from "Market Perform," predicting a shift in Wall Street's bearish sentiment on the maker of telecommunications and network equipment. ADVERTISEMENT In a research note, Morgan Keegan analysts Simon Leopold, Paul Bonenfant and Mark Carroll Jr. said Ciena is poised to benefit over the next six months from new product cycles, an established customer footprint and continued growth in network traffic. The analysts feel the stock, down significantly since late April, is attractively valued. Looking at Ciena's top customers, the analysts said that while sales to Sprint Nextel Corp. could slow down and BT Group PLC remains a wild card, AT&T Inc. business should hold stable, Verizon Communications Inc. offers some growth potential and Qwest Communications International Inc. provides additional opportunity. The analysts added that "our more favorable view might come as a surprise to some" given the recent weakness in Ciena's shares. Last month, the company said it expects to report a loss of $5 million to $6 million for its fiscal third quarter, ended in July, due to losses on investment vehicles. Excluding those items, Morgan Keegan projects Ciena will report earnings of 36 cents per share on $253.5 million for the quarter. Despite the upgrade, the analysts cut their estimates for Ciena. Sales forecasts were reduced to $256 million from $265 million for the fourth quarter, to $979 million from $988 million for the full fiscal 2008 year and to $1.1 billion from $1.2 billion for fiscal 2009. And the firm cut its earnings-per-share estimates to $1.61 from $1.65 for fiscal 2008 and to $1.56 from $1.87 for fiscal 2009. But the analysts stressed that those estimates are conservative and reflect traffic growth balanced by a decline in the company's long haul optical business and increased competition. Shares of the Linthicum Heights, Md., company rose $1.16, or 6.8 percent, to $18.17 Monday.