Ciena vs Lumentum
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The short version
- Ciena is the larger business, with $4.8B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $3.0B for Lumentum, about 1.6 times as much.
- Lumentum grew revenue faster (83.2%, against 18.8%).
- Lumentum kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (17.4% operating margin, against 4.1%).
- Ciena turned more of its sales into free cash flow (14.0% FCF margin, against 10.0%).
- Lumentum earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (10.4%, against 5.1%).
| Latest fiscal year | CIEN · FY25 | LITE · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $46.8B | $56.4B |
| Revenue | $4.8B | $3.0B |
| Free cash flow | $665M | $300M |
| Net income | $123M | −$6.9B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 18.8% | 83.2% |
| 5-year growth | 6.2% | 11.6% |
| Share count change | −0.5% | 7.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 42.0% | 41.7% |
| Operating margin | 4.1% | 17.4% |
| Net margin | 2.6% | −230.1% |
| FCF margin | 14.0% | 10.0% |
| Return on capital | 5.1% | 10.4% |
| Return on equity | 4.5% | −240.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $271M | $496M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.8x | 0.6x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $335M | $0.0M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 71.5x | — |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 5 |
Revenue
FY17
CIEN $2.8B
LITE $1.0B
FY18
CIEN $3.1B
LITE $1.2B
FY19
CIEN $3.6B
LITE $1.6B
FY20
CIEN $3.5B
LITE $1.7B
FY21
CIEN $3.6B
LITE $1.7B
FY22
CIEN $3.6B
LITE $1.7B
FY23
CIEN $4.4B
LITE $1.8B
FY24
CIEN $4.0B
LITE $1.4B
FY25
CIEN $4.8B
LITE $1.6B
FY26
CIEN —
LITE $3.0B
CIEN
LITE
Operating margin
FY17
CIEN 7.7%
LITE 4.8%
FY18
CIEN 7.4%
LITE 11.2%
FY19
CIEN 9.7%
LITE −1.4%
FY20
CIEN 13.8%
LITE 12.2%
FY21
CIEN 13.7%
LITE 30.2%
FY22
CIEN 6.1%
LITE 17.7%
FY23
CIEN 8.2%
LITE −6.6%
FY24
CIEN 4.2%
LITE −31.9%
FY25
CIEN 4.1%
LITE −11.0%
FY26
CIEN —
LITE 17.4%
CIEN
LITE
Free cash flow
FY17
CIEN $140M
LITE −$53.1M
FY18
CIEN $162M
LITE $154M
FY19
CIEN $351M
LITE $164M
FY20
CIEN $411M
LITE $438M
FY21
CIEN $462M
LITE $654M
FY22
CIEN −$259M
LITE $368M
FY23
CIEN $62.1M
LITE $51.3M
FY24
CIEN $378M
LITE −$108M
FY25
CIEN $665M
LITE −$105M
FY26
CIEN —
LITE $300M
CIEN
LITE
Return on capital
FY17
CIEN 23.7%
LITE 8.7%
FY18
CIEN 6.9%
LITE 23.5%
FY19
CIEN 15.8%
LITE −2.0%
FY20
CIEN 20.0%
LITE 11.3%
FY21
CIEN 23.7%
LITE 27.5%
FY22
CIEN 7.7%
LITE 15.6%
FY23
CIEN 9.3%
LITE −4.7%
FY24
CIEN 3.6%
LITE −14.5%
FY25
CIEN 5.1%
LITE −5.3%
FY26
CIEN —
LITE 10.4%
CIEN
LITE
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.