Ribbon Communications (NASDAQ:RBBN) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.48 EPS

Ribbon Communications (NASDAQ:RBBN) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The communications equipment provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.48, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $227.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $241.35 million. Ribbon Communications had a net margin of 4.69% and a return on equity of 27.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from Ribbon Communications’ conference call:

• Ribbon reported record product and professional services bookings, including roughly $50 million of non‑Verizon voice modernization orders across a dozen customers and an increased backlog that management expects to drive revenues beginning in the second half of 2026.
• Q4 revenue missed expectations at $227 million (down 10% YoY) due largely to deployment delays (customer restructuring) and year‑end budget timing issues such as BEAD funding hold‑ups, with roughly half the shortfall tied to projects already in backlog that were pushed into later quarters.
• The company recognized a ~$90 million deferred tax benefit in Q4 that boosted non‑GAAP EPS by $0.50 and is expected to yield $15–20 million of annual cash tax savings, while Q4 cash from operations was $29 million and closing cash was $98 million.
• 2026 guidance is conservative — revenue $840–875 million (midpoint ~1.5% growth) with a slow Q1 outlook of $160–170 million and adjusted EBITDA of $(3)–$1 million; Ribbon completed a restructuring cutting ~85 positions to save >$10 million annually, signaling near‑term margin pressure.
• Management highlighted multiple long‑term growth drivers — expansion opportunities with Verizon (and newly acquired Frontier), strong India momentum (>40% growth, >$100M annual sales), the Acumen AIOps platform with customer POCs and an AWS collaboration — which could support durable upside if bookings convert to revenue.

Ribbon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of RBBN traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $1.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,555,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 497,599. Ribbon Communications has a 52-week low of $1.80 and a 52-week high of $5.38. The company has a market cap of $346.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.37.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RBBN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citizens Jmp decreased their price target on Ribbon Communications from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. B. Riley Financial cut shares of Ribbon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $2.90 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen lowered Ribbon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. B.Riley Securit lowered Ribbon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, B. Riley Securities downgraded Ribbon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $2.90 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.97.

Key Stories Impacting Ribbon Communications

Here are the key news stories impacting Ribbon Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 EPS materially beat expectations — Ribbon reported $0.59 EPS vs. a consensus ~$0.11, driven by margin items and stronger profitability metrics. This is a near-term positive for earnings credibility. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Company highlights: PR release cites strong cash flow, bookings from expanding voice-modernization customers and >25% growth with U.S. Tier 1 service providers; Ribbon says it’s targeting expansion into AI and defense markets — potential longer-term growth drivers. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call/transcripts and slide deck are available for deeper detail on project timing, backlog and mix — useful for investors wanting management’s commentary on the weak revenue cadence. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Outlook nuance: Seeking Alpha and company materials show Ribbon projecting up to ~$875M for 2026 revenue “amid a cautious outlook” — management is signaling opportunity (voice modernization) but also caution on timing. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue miss and weak guidance drove the selloff — Q4 revenue was $227.3M (below estimates) and management set 1Q revenue guidance of $160–170M vs. a ~$196M consensus and FY revenue guidance $850–865M vs. ~$905M expected. That guidance shortfall is the primary negative catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst reactions: B. Riley downgraded RBBN from Buy to Neutral (PT $2.90) and several firms (Rosenblatt, Citizens/JMP) trimmed price targets to $4 (some kept Buy/Outperform). The mix of downgrades and PT cuts reflects investor concern about near-term revenue visibility. Article Title Article Title

Institutional Trading of Ribbon Communications

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RBBN. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Ribbon Communications by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 119,317 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC grew its stake in Ribbon Communications by 65.8% during the third quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 18,401 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 7,301 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Ribbon Communications by 453.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,025 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 8,213 shares in the last quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ribbon Communications by 38.3% in the 3rd quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC now owns 32,838 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 9,100 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Ribbon Communications by 111.9% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 18,294 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 9,662 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.92% of the company’s stock.

About Ribbon Communications

Ribbon Communications Inc is a global provider of real-time communications software and network solutions for service providers and enterprises. The company’s offerings address the full life cycle of voice, video and data transmission across fixed, mobile and cloud environments. Ribbon’s technology portfolio is designed to enable secure, intelligent and interoperable communications in applications such as unified communications, contact centers, wholesale VoIP interconnect and next-generation 5G networks.

Ribbon’s product suite includes session border controllers (SBCs), which secure and interwork IP voice and multimedia sessions; Diameter signaling controllers for 4G/5G policy and charging control; network edge virtualization platforms; and analytics engines for service assurance and fraud management.