CSCO vs CIEN Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Cisco's diversified networking and security business against Ciena's focused optical transport equipment franchise used by telecom carriers and hyperscalers.
Use this Cisco vs Ciena comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
CIEN holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. CIEN has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+238.54% vs +61.37%), though CSCO has the better forward P/E setup (19.64x vs 36.24x for CIEN). On fundamentals, CIEN is growing revenue faster (39.50%), while CSCO maintains the higher operating margin (27.70%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for CIEN (+57.51%) than for CSCO (+25.30%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | CSCO | CIEN |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 54.7 | 80.3 |
| AI ranki | #247 | #11 |
| Latest closei | $109.20 | $321.00 |
| 1M returni | -10.12% | -21.48% |
| 6M returni | +36.48% | +7.25% |
| 1Y returni | +61.37% | +238.54% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | CSCO | CIEN |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $16.06K (+60.6%) started 2025-09-04 | $27.45K (+174.5%) started 2025-09-04 |
| 5Y ago | $23.42K (+134.2%) started 2021-09-07 | $57.7K (+477.0%) started 2021-09-07 |
| 10Y ago | $61.17K (+511.7%) started 2016-09-06 | $139.69K (+1296.9%) started 2016-09-06 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | CSCO | CIEN |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $433.28B | $49.6B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 33.01 | 117.18 |
| Forward P/Ei | 19.64 | 36.24 |
| Price/Salesi | 4.70 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 7.07 | 9.23 |
| Analyst targeti | $137.74 | $551.86 |
| Target upsidei | +25.30% | +57.51% |
| Metric | CSCO | CIEN |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 17.60% | 39.50% |
| Earnings growthi | 52.00% | 2383.30% |
| EPS growthi | +52.00% | +2383.30% |
| FCF margini | +18.27% | +12.59% |
| Operating margini | 27.70% | 15.20% |
| Profit margini | 20.95% | 7.87% |
| ROIC proxyi | 27.32% | 15.46% |
| Return on equityi | 27.32% | 15.46% |
| Dividend yieldi | 1.50% | N/A |
| Betai | 1.00 | 1.31 |
| Debt/equityi | 58.73 | 54.65 |
| Current ratioi | 0.93 | 2.73 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.65 | 1.85 |
Over the past year, CSCO and CIEN have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.31), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | CSCO | CIEN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +60.61% | +174.55% |
| CAGRi | +60.72% | +174.94% | |
| Volatilityi | 33.70% | 71.36% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.44 | 1.71 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 2.11 | 2.50 | |
| Max drawdowni | 16.45% | 49.37% | |
| Current drawdowni | 16.00% | 48.80% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.38% | 11.02% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.24% | 17.93% | |
| Max daily dropi | 12.32% | 13.66% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 11.44% | 29.94% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +107.71% | +477.03% |
| CAGRi | +15.77% | +42.07% | |
| Volatilityi | 25.73% | 51.21% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.53 | 0.86 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.74 | 1.27 | |
| Max drawdowni | 36.68% | 49.54% | |
| Current drawdowni | 16.00% | 48.80% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 12.61% | 25.28% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 15.62% | 29.89% | |
| Max daily dropi | 13.73% | 21.04% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 13.61% | 29.94% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +349.04% | +1296.87% |
| CAGRi | +16.22% | +30.19% | |
| Volatilityi | 26.28% | 45.55% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.53 | 0.71 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.75 | 1.07 | |
| Max drawdowni | 41.95% | 49.54% | |
| Current drawdowni | 16.00% | 48.80% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 10.98% | 18.09% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 14.47% | 23.22% | |
| Max daily dropi | 13.73% | 24.32% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 16.10% | 32.45% |
| Category | CSCO | CIEN |
|---|---|---|
| Company | CSCO | CIEN |
| Sector | Technology | Technology |
| Industry | Communication Equipment | Communication Equipment |
| Core business | Cisco Systems, Inc. designs, develops, and sells technologies to power, help, secure, and draw insights from the internet in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. | Ciena Corporation, a network technology company, provides hardware, software, and services for various network operators in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and India. |
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