Ciena vs Motorola Solutions
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The short version
- Motorola Solutions is the larger business, with $11.7B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $4.8B for Ciena, about 2.4 times as much.
- Ciena grew revenue faster (18.8%, against 8.0%).
- Motorola Solutions kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (25.6% operating margin, against 4.1%).
- Motorola Solutions turned more of its sales into free cash flow (22.0% FCF margin, against 14.0%).
- Motorola Solutions earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (28.6%, against 5.1%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Ciena’s earnings: a P/E of 71.5x against 37.9x for Motorola Solutions.
| Latest fiscal year | CIEN · FY25 | MSI · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $46.8B | $80.6B |
| Revenue | $4.8B | $11.7B |
| Free cash flow | $665M | $2.6B |
| Net income | $123M | $2.2B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 18.8% | 8.0% |
| 5-year growth | 6.2% | 9.5% |
| Share count change | −0.5% | −1.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 42.0% | 51.7% |
| Operating margin | 4.1% | 25.6% |
| Net margin | 2.6% | 18.4% |
| FCF margin | 14.0% | 22.0% |
| Return on capital | 5.1% | 28.6% |
| Return on equity | 4.5% | 104.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $271M | $8.0B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.8x | 2.3x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $335M | $1.9B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 71.5x | 37.9x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
CIEN $2.6B
MSI $6.0B
FY17
CIEN $2.8B
MSI $6.4B
FY18
CIEN $3.1B
MSI $7.3B
FY19
CIEN $3.6B
MSI $7.9B
FY20
CIEN $3.5B
MSI $7.4B
FY21
CIEN $3.6B
MSI $8.2B
FY22
CIEN $3.6B
MSI $9.1B
FY23
CIEN $4.4B
MSI $10.0B
FY24
CIEN $4.0B
MSI $10.8B
FY25
CIEN $4.8B
MSI $11.7B
CIEN
MSI
Operating margin
FY16
CIEN 6.0%
MSI 17.4%
FY17
CIEN 7.7%
MSI 20.1%
FY18
CIEN 7.4%
MSI 17.1%
FY19
CIEN 9.7%
MSI 20.1%
FY20
CIEN 13.8%
MSI 18.7%
FY21
CIEN 13.7%
MSI 20.4%
FY22
CIEN 6.1%
MSI 18.2%
FY23
CIEN 8.2%
MSI 23.0%
FY24
CIEN 4.2%
MSI 24.9%
FY25
CIEN 4.1%
MSI 25.6%
CIEN
MSI
Free cash flow
FY16
CIEN $182M
MSI $894M
FY17
CIEN $140M
MSI $1.1B
FY18
CIEN $162M
MSI $878M
FY19
CIEN $351M
MSI $1.6B
FY20
CIEN $411M
MSI $1.4B
FY21
CIEN $462M
MSI $1.6B
FY22
CIEN −$259M
MSI $1.6B
FY23
CIEN $62.1M
MSI $1.8B
FY24
CIEN $378M
MSI $2.1B
FY25
CIEN $665M
MSI $2.6B
CIEN
MSI
Return on capital
FY16
CIEN 22.4%
MSI —
FY17
CIEN 23.7%
MSI 32.0%
FY18
CIEN 6.9%
MSI 51.0%
FY19
CIEN 15.8%
MSI 43.9%
FY20
CIEN 20.0%
MSI 32.7%
FY21
CIEN 23.7%
MSI 37.3%
FY22
CIEN 7.7%
MSI 34.8%
FY23
CIEN 9.3%
MSI 37.1%
FY24
CIEN 3.6%
MSI 40.4%
FY25
CIEN 5.1%
MSI 28.6%
CIEN
MSI
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.