Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Jim Suva: And then my follow-up is, you mentioned backlog went from $4.4 billion to about $4.2 billion. And then earlier in the call, you mentioned that really, the upside to the quarter came late in the quarter. You got a fantastic month of October, outsized growth. So, is that fair to say that $200 million work-down in backlog that we could actually see a faster work-down in inventory €“ I am sorry, on backlog as we have progress in the quarters ahead because it was kind of an outsized month for the quarter, or how should we think about the cadence of the backlog?

Gary Smith: I think it’s very difficult for us to predict that, to be honest. And that’s why I sort of shared with you what we are seeing in Q1. I actually think our backlog is going to go up in €“ coming out of Q1. Even though we have upped our shipment and our revenue guide for Q1, I think midpoint was 870. And I think we have just this morning shared midpoint would be about 950. Even with that, we still think we are going to add backlog coming out of Q1. So, I think it’s just a testament to the A, the strong demand characteristics that we are seeing across the board, and B, supply chain is improving, but lead times are still long.

Jim Suva: Well, that’s very impressive. Thanks for the clarifications. Really appreciate it.

Gary Smith: Thank you. Thanks Jim.

Gregg Lampf: Katherine, ready for the next question please.

Operator: Okay. One moment. Our next question is from Catharine Trebnick with MKM Partners. Your line is open.

Catharine Trebnick: Thanks for taking my question. Excellent print. Can you describe the target markets you are specifically looking at with these two new acquisitions? It looks like you are trying to go more into the regional market, but just clarify that for me. And then thank you.

Scott McFeely: Catherine, the two acquisitions from a solution perspective, I will talk to our broadband access part of our portfolio, which is one of the key use cases we have talked to you about as part of our next-generation metro and edge TAM expansion. So, anybody building our next-generation fiber access solutions would be the target market. There is lots of activity. Of course, some rural broadband funding that speaks to your Tier 2 opportunity, but there are also Tier 1s around the world that are looking at their architecture for their fiber build-outs as well. And we are attacking both of those spaces.

Catharine Trebnick: And then how much does this lift your total addressable market? Thank you.

Scott McFeely: We were €“ we had indicated with our focus on next-generation metro and edge that our TAM expansion had basically almost doubled, and we had talked about that in the past. This really is a part of securing a stronger solution portfolio set to go after that already announced expanded TAM.

Catharine Trebnick: Alright. Thank you.

Gary Smith: Catherine thanks.

Gregg Lampf: Operator, we are ready for next question.

Operator: Yes, one moment. Our question comes from Mike Genovese with Rosenblatt Securities. Your line is open.

Mike Genovese: Great. Thanks a lot. I just wanted to clarify on the gross margin for this quarter that you reported, the strength. Was that really all mix towards modems, or was it supply chain improvement? Is there not only better supply, but is it more coming at a more reasonable price than before?

Jim Moylan: Mostly mix. We did see some improvement from expectations in our, what we call exception costs, which are a combination of logistics costs and the premium costs that we paid. It’s mostly mix.

Mike Genovese: Okay. And then just quickly, for this year, for €˜23, I didn’t really hear a gross margin outlook for the full year. I got a revenue outlook for the full year, but I mean should we think this year, 43.6, I want to model consistently for this year and is that fair?

Jim Moylan: We said 42 to 44 for the full year for €“ average for the year and low-40s in Q1.