Deferred Revenue
Ciena Deferred Revenue increased by 39.0% to $290.42M in Q4 2025 compared to the prior quarter. Year-over-year, this metric grew by 66.8%, from $174.15M to $290.42M. Over 5 years (FY 2020 to FY 2025), Deferred Revenue shows an upward trend with a 14.0% CAGR. This is a positive signal — higher values indicate stronger performance for this metric.
Analysis
How to read this metric
An increase suggests strong sales of subscription-based services or bundled offerings, providing a predictable pipeline for future revenue recognition.
Detailed definition
Represents cash payments received from customers in advance of the company fulfilling its performance obligations, speci...
Peer comparison
High-growth software and services companies typically maintain larger deferred revenue balances relative to pure hardware manufacturers.
deferred_revenue_currentHistorical Data
| Q2 '21 | Q3 '21 | Q4 '21 | Q1 '22 | Q2 '22 | Q3 '22 | Q4 '22 | Q1 '23 | Q2 '23 | Q3 '23 | Q4 '23 | Q1 '24 | Q2 '24 | Q3 '24 | Q4 '24 | Q1 '25 | Q2 '25 | Q3 '25 | Q4 '25 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $126.18M | $118.01M | $124.96M | $156.40M | $147.81M | $137.90M | $164.76M | $202.82M | $188.10M | $154.42M | $166.71M | $196.99M | $179.46M | $156.38M | $174.15M | $221.84M | $196.21M | $208.94M | $290.42M |
| QoQ Change | — | -6.5% | +5.9% | +25.2% | -5.5% | -6.7% | +19.5% | +23.1% | -7.3% | -17.9% | +8.0% | +18.2% | -8.9% | -12.9% | +11.4% | +27.4% | -11.6% | +6.5% | +39.0% |
| YoY Change | — | — | — | — | +17.1% | +16.9% | +31.9% | +29.7% | +27.3% | +12.0% | +1.2% | -2.9% | -4.6% | +1.3% | +4.5% | +12.6% | +9.3% | +33.6% | +66.8% |
Deferred Revenue at Other Companies
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Ciena's deferred revenue?
- Ciena (CIEN) reported deferred revenue of $290.42M in Q4 2025.
- How has Ciena's deferred revenue changed year-over-year?
- Ciena's deferred revenue increased by 66.8% year-over-year, from $174.15M to $290.42M.
- What is the long-term trend for Ciena's deferred revenue?
- Over 5 years (2020 to 2025), Ciena's deferred revenue has grown at a 14.0% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), from $108.70M to $208.94M.
- What does deferred revenue mean?
- Money collected from customers for products or services that haven't been delivered yet but will be within a year.