3 Reasons Ciena Corporation Is Staying Ahead of the Competition

In researching my latest article on Ciena's (NYSE: CIEN) recent quarter, I found a lot to like about the company. As Foolish investors, we are always on the lookout for companies with outstanding vision, and I believe management's current strategy is setting Ciena up for long-term success. Here are three things the company does right.

Make no mistake: Ciena is in a difficult industry. The company's main business is selling hardware -- mostly wave division multiplexing equipment -- which helps service providers, telecoms, and cable companies boost internet speeds on existing fiber-optic networks. While that's certainly a growth area, it's also subject to the spending cycles of its clients, highly competitive, and dependent on technological superiority.

Ciena doesn't sugarcoat this in its financial reports. In fact, the company admits it works in an industry that is "highly competitive and fragmented." Ciena also admits it has to price its offerings very aggressively in order to win new customer deployments.

Source: Fool.com