Maryland-based Ciena Corp. (CIEN) is an original equipment manufacturer [OEM] of optical networking equipment, software and services. The company's FlexSelect platform has been gaining momentum and we believe the acquisition of World Wide Packets will further strengthen its base. However, Ciena's sales cycle is lengthening as Tier 1 carriers proceed with caution, given the economic uncertainty. With the disappointing fourth-quarter results, we believe it would be difficult for the company to improve or maintain its growth rate given weak economic conditions. Ciena has provided a bleak outlook for the first quarter of 2009. As such, we are reducing our estimates for fiscal 2009 and 2010. We maintain a Hold rating given the company's diminished outlook but lower our six-month price target to $6, given the uncertain macroeconomic conditions. This price is based on P/E multiple of 0.03x our 2009 EPS estimate of $0.18....

Avanex Corporation, a global provider of optical network solutions, today announced the appointment of Dr. Giovanni Barbarossa as CEO, President, and Director. Dr. Barbarossa has been with the company for 8 years, serving as Chief Technical Officer and Sr. V.P., and, since July, as Interim CEO. He has also been named as a member of the Avanex Board of Directors.

Prior to Avanex, Dr. Barbarossa held senior management roles in the Optical Networking Division of Agilent Technologies, and in the Network Product Group of Lucent Technologies. Before that he was with AT&T Labs, and a research associate with Bell Labs. He has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Glasgow, U.K., and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bari in Italy.

Paul Smith, Avanex Board Chairman, commented on the factors involved in the decision, including Barbarossa’s company and industry knowledge, and his strong relationships with customers. “During

...

Trading on the NASDAQ Global Market, Power-One Inc. is a leading designer and manufacturer of power conversion products. Founded in 1973, they are also a provider of power management solutions. Headquartered in Camarillo, California, the Company has approximately 4,000 employees and is part of the Diversified Electronics industry.

Power-One provides their solutions for alternative/renewable energy, routers, data storage and servers, wireless communications, optical networking, medical diagnostics, railway controls, custom applications, and automated/semiconductor test equipment. The Company offers their clients a wide variety of energy saving “green” products. Their products save energy by providing more useable output power and by generating less waste heat. This in turn saves energy by reducing host-system and facility-level cooling requirements.

Power-One’s product portfolio includes alternative-energy inverters that facilitate taking in clean power from the sun and wind. They also include AC-DC products that refine AC electricity into DC lower voltages, and DC-DC converters that convert DC

...

Trading on the NASDAQ Global Market, Power-One Inc. is a leading designer and manufacturer of power conversion products. Founded in 1973, they are also a provider of power management solutions. Headquartered in Camarillo, California, the Company has approximately 4,000 employees and is part of the Diversified Electronics industry.

Power-One provides their solutions for alternative/renewable energy, routers, data storage and servers, wireless communications, optical networking, medical diagnostics, railway controls, custom applications, and automated/semiconductor test equipment. The Company offers their clients a wide variety of energy saving “green” products. Their products save energy by providing more useable output power and by generating less waste heat. This in turn saves energy by reducing host-system and facility-level cooling requirements.

Power-One’s product portfolio includes alternative-energy inverters that facilitate taking in clean power from the sun and wind. They also include AC-DC products that refine AC electricity into DC lower voltages, and DC-DC converters that convert DC

...

Sycamore Networks, Inc. (SCMR) continues to experience disappointing financial performance as revenues and earnings are trending lower on a sequential quarter basis. The company’s fourth quarter fiscal 2008 financial results were significantly below our expectations, primarily attributed to a contract loss from one of its major customers.

On September 5, Sycamore announced fiscal fourth quarter 2008 earnings results. Total revenue of $15.1 million was down 60.3% from the year-ago quarter and down 24.9% sequentially. Gross margin was 28.7% compared to 46.5% in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted diluted EPS, excluding impairment charges, was a loss of $0.03 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.

We remain concerned that Sycamore may have difficulty generating sustainable business from carriers for its product capabilities as larger vendors address these markets with competing solutions. Furthermore, demand for optical networking appears to be more favorable than in past years, but Sycamore’s financial reports suggest year-over-year revenue

...

Finisar Corp. (FNSR) has gained a strong position in the short-distance, low-cost portion of the Ethernet market. FNSR's acquisition of Optium Corporation further compliments its product portfolio and should be accretive to its earnings in 2009.

Although some recent data points indicate that spending on network equipment may be slowing, FNSR has reported strong results and given good guidance. As such, we maintain our Hold rating with our $1.50 target price.

On September 8, Finisar announced financial results for fiscal 2009 first quarter. Revenue for the quarter was $128.7 million, exceeding the company's guidance of $120 million to $125 million. This represents a 21.7% increase in revenue from the $128.7 million reported in the year-ago quarter and a 6.4% increase over the $121.0 million reported in the previous quarter.

The company has been targeting the telecommunications industry and has been deeply involved in re-tooling its legacy infrastructure. As per IDC, the worldwide

...