Time to break out the champagne at Ciena Corp., as the company this morning reported its first real-and-for-true profitable quarter in five years.

The news sent Ciena's stock up $2.35 (9.4%) to $27.30 by midday.

For its fourth quarter, which ended Oct. 31, Ciena reported GAAP net income of $13.1 million, or 14 cents per share, on revenues of $160 million, compared with losses of $4.3 million, 1 cent per share, on revenues of $152.5 million in the third quarter.

That's a long way from Ciena's fourth quarter a year ago: losses of $252.9 million, $3.06 per share, on revenues of $152.5 million. So, be understanding if Ciena staff answer the phones today with a loud "Yeee-HAAA!"

The quarter was even enough to push fiscal 2006 into the black, just barely: $595,000 in GAAP net income, zero cents per share. It's Ciena's first profitable year since 2000.

Ciena's pro forma fourth-quarter profits of 16 cents per share beat out analysts' estimates of 12 cents, according to Reuters Research.

As measured by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), this was Ciena's first profitable quarter since July 2001, when it reported $5.7 million in net income -- or $58 million if you exclude special charges. (See Ciena's Day of Reckoning.)

But after that, the door slammed hard. Ciena's October 2001 earnings included a $1.8 billion loss, as the telecom market soured and the goodwill from the $1.1 billion Cyras Systems acquisition evaporated. (See Ciena Casts Cloud Over 2002.)

For its first quarter of 2007, which ends in January, Ciena is predicting revenue growth in the low single digits. That jibes with analyst predictions of $162.3 million, as tallied by Reuters.

— Craig Matsumoto, Senior Editor, Light Reading