CIENA Corp vs Cisco Systems Inc

CIENA Corp (CIEN) is overvalued and Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO) is overvalued.

Both trade above our estimate of their intrinsic value. CSCO is the closer of the two: -101%, against -707% for CIEN.

Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.

CIENA Corp (CIEN)

Discounting its cash flows at 10.8% (average of 2 methods) values the shares at $45.66; the price of $368.56 is 707% above that value.

Leak Score 49/100 on 10 of 12 signals

Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO)

Discounting its cash flows at 9.7% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $53.03; the price of $106.44 is 101% above that value, and 73% of that value comes from beyond year five.

Leak Score 44/100 on 10 of 12 signals

MetricCIENCSCO
VerdictOvervaluedOvervalued
Price$368.56$106.44
Intrinsic value$45.66$53.03
Margin of safety-707%-101%
Leak Score49/100 (10/12)44/100 (10/12)
Market cap$52.3B$419.6B
Revenue growth, 5 years6.2%4.9%
Operating margin14.1%25.2%
Net margin10.9%20.9%
Return on equity22.4%27.3%
Debt to equity1.070.62
P/E82.2x32.0x
Forward P/E31.3x19.2x
P/B17.1x8.3x
Dividend yield1.6%

All stocks in Communication Equipment