- Goldman's upgrades of Infinera (INFN +14.9%) and Calix (CALX +2.8%) wound up sparking a broader rally telecom equipment and optical component makers. Notable gainers: FNSR +6.2%. UBNT +6.7%. CYNI +5.1%. CIEN +3.8%. JDSU +5.4%. AFOP +3.4%. NPTN +3.4%. ADTN +2.8%. FN +2.2%.
- Goldman's Simona Jankowski believes Infinera, which recently lost a major Verizon deal to Alcatel-Lucent, has regained Level 3 as a client. She also estimates 100G optical system shipments "have approximately a 15% point gross margin advantage" relative to 10G counterparts, and sees this delta boosting Infinera's margins as 100G "increases from mid-50% of total product revenue in 2013 to mid-70% in 2014."
- Regarding Calix, Jankowski reports seeing better spending trends among the tier 2/3 carriers the company leans heavily on, and thinks 2014/2015 estimates now "more accurately reflect" Calix's growth trajectory.
- Today's gains come as the optical networking industry's OFC 2014 conference continues. As usual, the conference has seen a slew of product launches. Ciena has followed Infinera (previous) in launching software tools for intelligently controlling a network's optical layers, and JDS Uniphase is showing off several new components and modules.