Louis Navellier’s Little Book That Makes You Rich distills growth investing into eight essential rules, from positive earnings surprises and upward estimate revisions to accelerating sales, expanding margins, and strong cash flow. The strategy is built on the idea that when a company consistently beats expectations and demonstrates solid financial momentum, the market eventually rewards it. Our latest screen, designed to mirror these eight criteria, has flagged a company that stands out across nearly every metric.
Meeting the Eight Pillars of Growth
Ciena Corp. (NYSE:CIEN) is a network technology specialist providing hardware, software, and services to telecom operators and large enterprises. The company checks each of Navellier’s boxes with data that goes well beyond the screen’s minimum thresholds.
Earnings Surprises & Revisions: The company has beaten analyst EPS estimates in each of the last four quarters, with an average surprise of 15.9%. Over the past three months, estimates for the next quarter have been revised upward by 9.4%. In Navellier’s framework, consecutive beats force analysts to adjust their models, which in turn drives future price targets higher.
Sales and Earnings Growth: Revenue grew 30.6% year-over-year (TTM) and 39.5% quarter-over-quarter, both well above the 20% thresholds. EPS growth is even more dramatic: up 134.4% over the trailing twelve months and 290.5% in the most recent quarter versus the same quarter last year. For a growth investor, this combination of top-line and bottom-line acceleration is exactly the type of momentum that signals a company gaining market share and operational leverage.
Expanding Operating Margin: Operating margin expanded by 130.5% over the past year, reflecting Ciena’s ability to scale its business without proportional cost increases. This kind of margin expansion is a core tenet of the Little Book strategy, as it shows the company is not just selling more but selling more profitably.
Strong Free Cash Flow: Free cash flow grew by 86.3% year-over-year. Strong cash generation gives management the flexibility to reinvest in the business, pay down debt, or repurchase shares—all hallmarks of a well-run growth company.
Earnings Momentum & ROE: The acceleration filter requires current Q2Q EPS growth to be higher than the same comparison a year ago. Ciena’s most recent quarter EPS growth of 290.5% far exceeds the 55.6% figure from four quarters ago, confirming positive momentum. Meanwhile, return on equity stands at 15.2%, comfortably above the 10% minimum and reinforcing the narrative of efficient capital use.
What the Fundamental Analysis Report Shows
A detailed breakdown of Ciena’s fundamentals (fa-report-link) gives the company an overall score of 6 out of 10, with particular strength in health (8/10) and growth (7/10). The health score is supported by an Altman-Z score of 12.09, which places it among the strongest in the Communications Equipment industry, and a debt-to-FCF ratio of just 1.84 years. The growth category highlights that EPS is expected to expand by 41.4% annually on average going forward, with revenue growth also set to accelerate to 18.2% per year. Valuation is the main weakness—the trailing P/E of 89.44 looks expensive—but the PEG ratio is low, suggesting the high current price is partially justified by the rapid earnings expansion ahead.
Screening for More Candidates
The screen that surfaced Ciena is designed to systematically apply the same eight criteria across the entire US market. By running these filters, investors can quickly identify companies with the same profile of rising estimates, accelerating sales, improving margins, and solid cash generation. You can explore the current list of picks and adjust the parameters to suit your own risk tolerance via the full screen configuration.
Ciena is a textbook example of a stock where the fundamental building blocks for growth are all pointing in the same direction, and the market’s current valuation reflects the belief that this trajectory will continue.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Always conduct your own research before making any trading decisions.
Read full article here »
Ciena Corp. (NYSE:CIEN) Nears Perfect Score on Navellier’s Eight Pillars of High Growth Investing
Louis Navellier’s Little Book That Makes You Rich distills growth investing into eight essential rules, from positive earnings surprises and upward estimate revisions to accelerating sales, expanding margins, and strong cash flow. The strategy is built on the idea that when a company consistently beats expectations and demonstrates solid financial momentum, the market eventually rewards it. Our latest screen, designed to mirror these eight criteria, has flagged a company that stands out across nearly every metric.
Meeting the Eight Pillars of Growth
Ciena Corp. (NYSE:CIEN) is a network technology specialist providing hardware, software, and services to telecom operators and large enterprises. The company checks each of Navellier’s boxes with data that goes well beyond the screen’s minimum thresholds.
Earnings Surprises & Revisions: The company has beaten analyst EPS estimates in each of the last four quarters, with an average surprise of 15.9%. Over the past three months, estimates for the next quarter have been revised upward by 9.4%. In Navellier’s framework, consecutive beats force analysts to adjust their models, which in turn drives future price targets higher.
Sales and Earnings Growth: Revenue grew 30.6% year-over-year (TTM) and 39.5% quarter-over-quarter, both well above the 20% thresholds. EPS growth is even more dramatic: up 134.4% over the trailing twelve months and 290.5% in the most recent quarter versus the same quarter last year. For a growth investor, this combination of top-line and bottom-line acceleration is exactly the type of momentum that signals a company gaining market share and operational leverage.
Expanding Operating Margin: Operating margin expanded by 130.5% over the past year, reflecting Ciena’s ability to scale its business without proportional cost increases. This kind of margin expansion is a core tenet of the Little Book strategy, as it shows the company is not just selling more but selling more profitably.
Strong Free Cash Flow: Free cash flow grew by 86.3% year-over-year. Strong cash generation gives management the flexibility to reinvest in the business, pay down debt, or repurchase shares—all hallmarks of a well-run growth company.
Earnings Momentum & ROE: The acceleration filter requires current Q2Q EPS growth to be higher than the same comparison a year ago. Ciena’s most recent quarter EPS growth of 290.5% far exceeds the 55.6% figure from four quarters ago, confirming positive momentum. Meanwhile, return on equity stands at 15.2%, comfortably above the 10% minimum and reinforcing the narrative of efficient capital use.
What the Fundamental Analysis Report Shows
A detailed breakdown of Ciena’s fundamentals (fa-report-link) gives the company an overall score of 6 out of 10, with particular strength in health (8/10) and growth (7/10). The health score is supported by an Altman-Z score of 12.09, which places it among the strongest in the Communications Equipment industry, and a debt-to-FCF ratio of just 1.84 years. The growth category highlights that EPS is expected to expand by 41.4% annually on average going forward, with revenue growth also set to accelerate to 18.2% per year. Valuation is the main weakness—the trailing P/E of 89.44 looks expensive—but the PEG ratio is low, suggesting the high current price is partially justified by the rapid earnings expansion ahead.
Screening for More Candidates
The screen that surfaced Ciena is designed to systematically apply the same eight criteria across the entire US market. By running these filters, investors can quickly identify companies with the same profile of rising estimates, accelerating sales, improving margins, and solid cash generation. You can explore the current list of picks and adjust the parameters to suit your own risk tolerance via the full screen configuration.
Ciena is a textbook example of a stock where the fundamental building blocks for growth are all pointing in the same direction, and the market’s current valuation reflects the belief that this trajectory will continue.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Always conduct your own research before making any trading decisions.
Read full article here »