Ciena Corp vs Nokia Corporation, two Communication Equipment stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Growth is the argument, and neither trailing income statement makes it directly: Ciena earns a 15.1% operating margin, Nokia 4.5%, and the market has marked both up as AI-era networking plays, 159.9 and 99.7 times trailing earnings, multiples that only make sense against expected earnings rather than reported ones. The difference is what must improve. Ciena needs its optical interconnect momentum to become profit; Nokia needs an entire margin structure rebuilt, its 3.1% return on equity the measure of the distance. Nokia converts more of its price to free cash today, 3.2% against 1.2%, and both balance sheets are conservative. Two lottery-priced networkers, one buying acceleration, the other buying repair.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | CIEN | NOK |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $479.66 | $13.00 |
| Market cap | $70.2B | $70.4B |
| Sector | Communication Equipment | Communication Equipment |
| Stage | Growth | Mature |
| P/E | 159.9 | 99.7 |
| P/B | 24.27 | 3.08 |
| P/S | 12.60 | 3.26 |
| EV/EBITDA | 130.0 | 29.6 |
| Revenue growth | +30.6% | -2.4% |
| Gross margin | 44.0% | 43.5% |
| Operating margin | 15.1% | 4.5% |
| Net margin | 7.9% | 3.3% |
| Return on equity | 15.2% | 3.1% |
| Return on assets | 7.3% | 1.8% |
| Return on invested capital | 10.9% | 2.9% |
| FCF yield | 1.2% | 3.2% |
| Debt / equity | 0.53 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 2.73 | 1.58 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 6.85 | 3.21 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 5 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.