UPDATE: Goldman Sachs Raises PT on Ciena Following Good Earnings Report

In a report published Friday, Goldman Sachs analyst Kent Schofield reiterated a Neutral rating on

, and raised the price target from $17.00 to $19.00. In the report, Goldman Sachs noted, “Following in Cisco's footsteps, Ciena is now the second carrier-exposed CommTech company to report better-than-expected earnings, after disappointing earnings from peers. Both companies have an April quarter end, which may be benefiting from a delayed release of carrier budgets. For the first time in its history, Ciena generated over $500mn in quarterly revenues as it exceeded consensus expectations by 5%, the second biggest positive surprise dating back to 2009, and guided July quarter revenues up 4% qoq at the midpoint. Next generation product deployments drove the strength with Converged Packet Optical up 11% yoy and Packet Networking up 81% yoy. The US was especially strong, with revenues growing 14% yoy and 9% qoq. Ciena's top two customers (AT&T and Verizon) accounted for 31% of total revenues, up from 26% in 1QFY13 (January), representing 33% qoq growth. Gross margins of 42.5% topped our and Street expectations; however, guidance remained range bound in the low 40%s.” Ciena Corporation closed on Thursday at $19.15.