Strong Results and Optimistic Guidance Lifted Ciena (CIEN) in Q3

Aristotle Capital Boston, LLC, an investment advisor, released its “Small/Mid Cap Equity Strategy” third-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. U.S. small/mid-cap equities reported solid results in the third quarter, driven by a favorable macroeconomic backdrop. In the third quarter, the strategy delivered a return of 2.57% net of fees (3.07% gross of fees), underperforming the 9.00% total return of the Russell 2500 Index. For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2025, please check its top five holdings.

In its third-quarter 2025 investor letter, Aristotle Capital Small/Mid Cap Equity Strategy highlighted stocks such as Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN). Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) is a network technology company that offers hardware, software, and services for various network operators. The one-month return of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) was 24.77%, and its shares gained 195.39% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 30, 2025, Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) stock closed at $188.96 per share, with a market capitalization of $26.708 billion.

Aristotle Capital Small/Mid Cap Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:

"Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN), is an optical networking equipment manufacturer for telecommunications and web scale network operators. The stock was bolstered due to strong earnings results and optimistic forward guidance driven by AI-related demand and technological innovation. We believe the company is well-positioned to benefit from strong demand for bandwidth given its differentiated product portfolio and history of technological innovation, which should lead to strong operating results and shareholder value creation."

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 57 hedge fund portfolios held Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) at the end of the second quarter, compared to 58 in the previous quarter. Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) reported revenue of $1.22 billion in the third quarter of 2025, exceeding the upper range of guidance, which represents an 8% sequential increase and nearly a 30% year-over-year growth. While we acknowledge the potential of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we covered Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) and shared the list of best NYSE stocks to buy and hold for the next decade. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.