The Motley Fool on $CIEN (Oct 30, 2026)
CIEN has a long way to go: strong operating margins and potential to triple revenue in three years support its data-center optical networking business. The stock is up 54% year to date but still 65% below its all-time high after a turbulent year; at 36 times forward earnings, valuation is reasonable.
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So, I'm looking at a company called Siena. Travis, the symbol is CIE. This is a business that specializes in optical networking. That means they make equipment for data centers.
They use light to exchange information around the data center. It has a portfolio of network routers and switches. Although somewhat tedious, they have a range of products that can transmit information over vast distances via light.
For example, transferring data from one data center to another, or from one country to another, or from one continent to another. This will play a very useful role when quantum networking becomes important in the future.
So, I think this company has a long way to go. It has risen 54% since the beginning of the year, but it is still down 65% from its all-time high. It has been a very turbulent year.
It is currently trading at 36 times forward earnings, which is reasonable. What I like about this company is that its operating margins are quite strong and it has the potential to triple revenue in the next 3 years.
Also, an interesting thing for listeners is that you can take a look at the Siena stock chart. This is one of the strangest stock charts I've ever seen, with a huge peak in 2000 and a comeback in recent years.