Filing Flows › Ciena (CIEN) › How it makes money
How Ciena (CIEN) makes money
Ciena (CIEN) made $1.7B of revenue in the third quarter fiscal 2026 (Q3 FY26), +37% from a year earlier. Products brought in $1.4B (83%); Routing and Switching brought in $164M (10%); Platform Software and Services brought in $98.7M (6%). Of every dollar of revenue, 45¢ was left as gross profit, 18¢ was left as operating profit, 16¢ was left as net earnings.
Drawing the Sankey…
Revenue by segment, Q3 FY26
| Segment | Revenue | Share | Q/Q | Y/Y |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Products | $1.4B | 83.3% | +8% | +41% |
| ↳ Optical Networking | $1.2B | 71.3% | +8% | +46% |
| ↳ Maintenance, Support, and Learning | $89.9M | 5.4% | +0.6% | +11% |
| ↳ Implementation | $87.9M | 5.3% | +10% | +33% |
| ↳ Blue Planet Automation Software and Services | $23.2M | 1.4% | -0.7% | -17% |
| Routing and Switching | $164M | 9.8% | -6% | +31% |
| Platform Software and Services | $98.7M | 5.9% | +5% | +10% |
| Advisory and Enablement | $15.9M | 0.9% | +52% | +16% |
Where each dollar of revenue goes
| Line | Q3 FY26 | % of revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.7B | 100.0% |
| Cost of revenue | $912M | 54.6% |
| Gross profit | $759M | 45.4% |
| Operating expenses | $458M | 27.4% |
| Operating profit | $301M | 18.0% |
| Income tax | $44.2M | 2.6% |
| Net earnings | $266M | 15.9% |
| Operating cash flow | $196M | 11.7% |
| Free cash flow | $116M | 7.0% |
Revenue, quarter by quarter
| Quarter | Revenue | Y/Y |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 FY26 | $1.7B | +37% |
| Q2 FY26 | $1.6B | +40% |
| Q1 FY26 | $1.4B | +33% |
| Q4 FY25 | $1.4B | +20% |
| Q3 FY25 | $1.2B | +29% |
| Q2 FY25 | $1.1B | +24% |
| Q4 FY24 | $1.1B | -0.5% |
From Ciena's 10-Q filed Sep 3, 2026 (on EDGAR).
Questions
How does Ciena make money?
Ciena (CIEN) made $1.7B of revenue in the third quarter fiscal 2026 (Q3 FY26), +37% from a year earlier. Products brought in $1.4B (83%); Routing and Switching brought in $164M (10%); Platform Software and Services brought in $98.7M (6%). Of every dollar of revenue, 45¢ was left as gross profit, 18¢ was left as operating profit, 16¢ was left as net earnings.
What is Ciena's biggest business?
Products: $1.4B in the third quarter fiscal 2026, 83% of revenue, +41% from a year earlier.
What is Ciena's profit margin?
Net earnings were $266M, 15.9% of revenue, in the third quarter fiscal 2026; the operating margin was 18.0%.
Updated Nov 8, 2026. Read automatically from SEC filings and public data; errors are possible. Not investment advice.