Optical transport equipment supplier Ciena reported results for its  third quarter ended July 31, 2015. The company said it saw revenues of $602.9 million and non-GAAP net income of $50.7 million ($0.37 per diluted common share). The revenue figure missed the company’s guidance of $610 million to $640 million. On the other hand, earnings beat estimates by $0.03 a share.

Third quarter revenue was off $18.7 million sequentially and year-on-year by $0.7 million as well. For the fiscal third quarter 2015, Ciena reported revenue of $602.9 million as compared to $603.6 million for the fiscal third quarter 2014.

On the basis of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Ciena’s net income for the fiscal third quarter 2015 was $23.6 million, or $0.19 per diluted common share, which compares to a GAAP net income of $16.2 million, or $0.15 per diluted common share, for the fiscal third quarter 2014.

Ciena’s adjusted (non-GAAP) net income for the fiscal third quarter 2015 was $50.7 million, or $0.37 per diluted common share, which compares to an adjusted (non-GAAP) net income of $40.9 million, or $0.32 per diluted common share, for the fiscal third quarter 2014.

“We delivered strong financial performance in our fiscal third quarter, including increased profitability and cash generation, demonstrating our ability to deliver on our business model and drive continued operating leverage,” said Gary B. Smith, president and CEO of Ciena. “Despite short-term revenue headwinds related to the timing of network implementations at certain large service provider customers, fundamental demand drivers for our business remain strong. In fact, we now expect to exceed 10% adjusted operating margin for the full fiscal year.”

The Converged Packet product line was most negatively impacted. Revenues declined sequentially by $24.9 million during the quarter.

Do we care that “short-term revenue headwinds” are affecting Ciena? Assuming that we can extrapolate the optical transport industry from Ciena results, let’s hope the headwinds are indeed just short-term.

To see more details on Ciena’s announcement, see Ciena results