Benzinga | Jan 21, 2021 12:25PM EST

Ciena Upgraded For Potential Recovery in Spending, Robust Global Bandwidth Demand

Although Ciena Corporation's (NYSE:CIEN) performance may be weak in the first half of the year, its long-term opportunity remains promising, according to BofA Securities.

The Ciena Analyst: Tal Lian upgraded the rating for Ciena from Neutral to Buy, while raising the price target from $49 to $65.

The Ciena Thesis: Spending by Tier 1 North American service providers is likely to recover in the second half of 2021 and in fiscal 2022, Lian said.

"Ciena benefitted from strong optical investment by Tier 1 US SPs in 2019 and we believe the company is experiencing a digestion period and near-term spending shifts toward C-band spectrum and RAN equipment," he wrote in the note.

The analyst expects capital expenditure by Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), and T-Mobile Us Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) to grow in 2021.

"In our view, fundamentals remain intact, and we point to robust global bandwidth demand, share gain opportunities in EMEA IP access networks, a significant internet build-out in India and aggressive Huawei displacement, BluePlanet growth, and 800G leadership," Lian said.

The downward revisions to the estimates for fiscal 2021 and 2022 provide "an opportunity for outperformance," he added.

CIEN Price Action: Shares of Ciena had risen by 3.4% to $54.69 at the time of publication Thursday.

(Photo: Ciena Corp.)