Ciena Corporation (CIEN) 28th Annual Needham Growth Conference January 13, 2026 3:45 PM EST
Company Participants
David Rothenstein – Senior VP, Chief Strategy Officer & Corporate Secretary
Conference Call Participants
Ryan Koontz – Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division
Presentation
Ryan Koontz
Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division
Welcome to Needham’s 20th Annual Growth Conference. I’m Ryan Koontz, I cover the communications and networking sector here at Needham. Really happy to be joined by Ciena today. We’ve got David Rothenstein, SVP and Chief Strategy Officer. Welcome, David.
David Rothenstein
Senior VP, Chief Strategy Officer & Corporate Secretary
Welcome, Ryan. Thank you.
Ryan Koontz
Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division
Yes. David’s had a really, really busy day. We’re going to push him across the finish line here.
David Rothenstein
Senior VP, Chief Strategy Officer & Corporate Secretary
[ You ] coveted 3:45 in the afternoon slot.
Question-and-Answer Session
Ryan Koontz
Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division
Yes. Well, let’s start kind of high level where you guys started last year when you came in and then finished up, I mean, what a year, you came in, guided 8% to 11% growth, ended up delivering 19%, just incredible. I mean, can you walk us through maybe what changed during the year in your business that drives that kind of outperformance?
David Rothenstein
Senior VP, Chief Strategy Officer & Corporate Secretary
Yes. Thanks, Ryan. It was a great year. And you’re right, we did have the high-class problem of having to continue to take up our revenue guidance throughout the year. I wish I had that problem every year.
It really, in a word, it was driven by AI, which is not going to be a surprise to anyone really across our customer segments and across our portfolio. Service providers rebounded quite nicely after a few years of
