[$CIEN](https://x.com/search?q=%24CIEN&src=cashtag_click) reported a strong fiscal Q1 as customers scaled high-speed networking infrastructure for AI demand.
Key numbers:
Revenue came in at $1.43B, up 33.1% year-over-year.
Adjusted EPS was $1.64 vs. $1.47 expected, an 11.6% beat.
The bigger story was operating leverage:
Adjusted EPS in the company release rose to $1.35 from $0.64 last year.
GAAP EPS rose to $1.03 from $0.31.
Non-GAAP operating margin improved to 17.9% from 12.3%.
Non-GAAP EBITDA jumped 83.6% to 287.3 Million Dollars.
Ciena also reported a record first-quarter backlog, giving management better demand visibility through 2026 and into 2027.
Then guidance went higher.
For fiscal Q2, Ciena expects revenue of about $1.5B, plus or minus 50 Million Dollars.
For fiscal 2026, the company raised its revenue outlook to $5.9B to 6.3 Billion Dollars.
That implies roughly 28% growth at the midpoint.
Training and running AI models requires huge amounts of data to move between data centers, cloud networks, telecom systems, and enterprise infrastructure. That makes optical networking a second-order AI trade.