Ciena reported $2.50B of remaining performance obligations at 1 Aug 2026, up 25% from a year earlier and flat from the previous quarter. That is 0.4 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 1.00.
Net new backlog added in the latest quarter: $0.
Over the last twelve months it turned about 271% of its opening backlog into revenue (12-month conversion).
Customer prepayments (contract liabilities) cover 12.4% of the backlog.
Twelve-month book-to-bill: 1.08, i.e. 1.08 of new orders for every 1 of revenue recognised.
Backlog growth minus revenue growth: -8 points — revenue is catching up with orders.
By backlog size it ranks 168th among US filers the cockpit tracks.
Ciena backlog history
Remaining performance obligations at each quarter end (bars) against trailing twelve-month revenue (line).
Amounts in USD. Source: SEC XBRL filings.
Quarter end
Backlog (RPO)
TTM revenue
Coverage
Customer prepayments
1 Aug 2026
$2.50B
$6.02B
0.4 yrs
$311M
2 May 2026
$2.50B
$5.57B
0.4 yrs
$340M
31 Jan 2026
$2.30B
$5.12B
0.4 yrs
$391M
1 Nov 2025
$2.10B
$4.77B
0.4 yrs
$304M
2 Aug 2025
$2.00B
$4.54B
0.4 yrs
$277M
3 May 2025
$1.70B
$4.26B
0.4 yrs
$305M
1 Feb 2025
$1.70B
$4.05B
0.4 yrs
$257M
2 Nov 2024
$1.60B
$4.01B
0.4 yrs
$238M
27 Jul 2024
$1.60B
$4.02B
0.4 yrs
$257M
27 Apr 2024
$1.50B
$4.15B
0.4 yrs
$277M
27 Jan 2024
$1.70B
$4.37B
0.4 yrs
$243M
28 Oct 2023
$1.80B
$4.39B
0.4 yrs
$228M
Questions
What is Ciena's backlog?
Ciena reported $2.50B of remaining performance obligations at 1 Aug 2026, up 25% from a year earlier and flat from the previous quarter. That is 0.4 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 1.00.
How fast does Ciena's backlog turn into revenue?
Over the last twelve months Ciena recognised revenue equal to about 271% of the backlog it started each quarter with.
About these numbers
Remaining performance obligations (RPO) are revenue a company has contracted but not yet recognised, as reported in its SEC filings (XBRL tag RevenueRemainingPerformanceObligation). Coverage = backlog ÷ trailing twelve-month revenue. Book-to-bill = (change in backlog + revenue) ÷ revenue. Conversion = revenue recognised ÷ the backlog at the start of each quarter, summed over four quarters. Counterparty values come from company filings and releases.