JPMorgan upgrades this networking tech stock after Monday’s AI stock rout

In the wake of Monday’s carnage within artificial intelligence stocks, JPMorgan found a buying opportunity in Ciena . Analyst Samik Chatterjee upgraded the network services stock to overweight from neutral. Chatterjee raised his price target by $4 to $88, which now suggests 15% upside over Monday’s close. Chatterjee’s call comes after the stuck plummeted 21% on Monday amid a global technology sell-off , marking the stock’s worst day since 2020. This was catalyzed by the strong performance of Chinese startup DeepSeek’s AI release, which raised questions about U.S. leadership and the necessity of big spending within the sector. “We are picking through the exaggerated share price reactions relative to AI levered suppliers, led by investor concerns driven by the revelations around the capital efficiency of DeepSeek’s AI models,” Chatterjee wrote in a Tuesday note. We “see an interesting entry point into shares of CIEN, which will see a limited impact of fundamentals in the near- to medium-term in relation to continued strong capex ramp from Cloud as well as capex recovery from traditional Telecom and incremental investments from MOFN [managed optical fiber network] providers.” Specifically, Chatterjee said Ciena is a smart play because concerns related to DeepSeek should have “limited impact” on the company’s earnings. After Monday’s sell-off, the stock is trading at 19 times earnings for the 2026 calendar year, which is mostly in line with the long-term multiple, Chatterjee said. What’s more, Chatterjee said there’s several near-term drivers for Ciena. The list includes stronger capital expenditure recovery momentum than others within telecom and interest in data center connectivity investing. Shares rose more than 3% following the upgrade. The stock is down about 10% for 2025. CIEN YTD mountain Ciena in 2025