UPDATE: J.P. Morgan Reiterates Overweight Rating, Lowers PT on Ciena Corporation

In a report published Friday, J.P. Morgan & Co. reiterated its Overweight rating on Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), but lowered its price target from $19.00 to $16.00.J.P. Morgan noted, “FQ4'12 guidance is clearly weak, though excluding SEA-ME-WE-4 revenues, we believe revenues would have grown sequentially. FQ3'12 gross margin was disappointing at an adjusted 38.6% (39.6% reported) vs. ~40% guidance. We believe both problems, however, relate mainly to the slower than expected rollout of major US deals. Despite being unpleasant, this is fairly normal during major architectural shifts as carriers need to work through many kinks. Given this, we believe now is as good a time as any to increase exposure to Ciena in preparation for a 2013 ramp in optical spending. Reiterate Overweight.”Ciena Corporation closed on Thursday at $13.46.