Ribbon Communications Inc., established in 1997 and headquartered in Plano, Texas, is a global provider of advanced communication technology. Operating across the ...
Ribbon Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: RBBN), headquartered in Plano, Texas, was founded in 1997 as Sonus Networks and rebranded as Ribbon Communications in November 2017 following a merger with GENBAND. The company operates globally across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific, serving a diverse customer base ...Ribbon Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: RBBN), headquartered in Plano, Texas, was founded in 1997 as Sonus Networks and rebranded as Ribbon Communications in November 2017 following a merger with GENBAND. The company operates globally across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific, serving a diverse customer base including service providers, enterprises, and industries such as utilities, government, defense, finance, transportation, education, and research. Ribbon's business is divided into two primary segments: Cloud and Edge, and IP Optical Networks. The Cloud and Edge segment delivers software and hardware solutions enabling modern voice and collaboration services, including VoIP, VoLTE, VoNR, and Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C), along with Session Border Controller (SBC) technology and network transformation tools. These offerings support private, public, and hybrid cloud environments, data centers, enterprise premises, and service provider networks with flexible deployment options. The IP Optical Networks segment provides IP networking, switching, routing, and optical transport solutions, essential for 5G and distributed cloud computing, including mobile backhaul, metro and edge aggregation, core networking, and data center interconnect. The company also offers advanced analytics platforms for network and subscriber insights. Financially, Ribbon has a market cap of approximately $382 million (as of the latest data), with a price-to-sales ratio of 0.48 and an EV-to-EBITDA of 19.15. The company employs around 3,080 full-time employees and has shown a gross profit margin of 47%, though it operates with a negative EBIT margin (-2.6%) and a net profit margin of 2%. Key financial ratios indicate a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.31, reflecting a moderate leverage position. The leadership team, led by CEO and President Bruce W. McClelland, focuses on innovation and strategic growth in the evolving communications landscape, aiming to enable seamless connectivity for customers worldwide.
YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength.
QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes.
RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three).
$844.6M
+1.3%
+18.3%
Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day.
$39.6M
+173.1%
+22.1%
Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials.
+47.0%
-10.8%
+16.0%
Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on).
+2.4%
+21.0%
+86.4%
Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales.
+4.7%
+172.2%
+34.1%
Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock.
$26.1M
-4.8%
+37.0%
FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine.
+3.1%
-6.0%
+46.7%
Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe.
90.2%
-4.8%
+5.9%
Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking.
1.44x
+2.2%
-4.1%
Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground.
Operator: Greetings, and welcome to the Ribbon Communications Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Fahad Najam, head of investor relations. Thank you. You may begin.
Fahad Najam: Good afternoon, and welcome to Ribbon's Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. I'm Fahad Najam, SVP, Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations at Ribbon Communications. Also on the call today are Bruce McClelland, Ribbon's Chief Executive Officer, and Rick Marmurek, Ribbon's Chief Financial Officer. Today's call is being webcast live and will be archived on the Investor Relations section of our website at rbbn.com. Both our press release and supplemental slides are currently available. Certain matters we will be discussing today, including the business outlook and financial projections for the third quarter of 2026 and beyond, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in the documents filed with the SEC, including our most recent Form 10-K. I refer you to our safe harbor statement included in the supplemental financial information posted on our website. In addition, we will present non-GAAP financial information on this call. Reconciliations to the applicable GAAP measures are included in the earnings press release we issued earlier today as well as the supplemental financial information we prepared for this conference call, which again are both available on the Investor Relations section of our website. And now I would like to turn the call over to Bruce.
Bruce McClelland: Great. Thanks, Fahad. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today to discuss our second quarter results and outlook for the second half of the year. We had a solid second quarter with key financial metrics above the midpoint of our guidance. Revenue grew 18% sequentially to $192 million and earnings improved by $20 million to $12 million, with improvement in both of our operating segments. Excluding maintenance, product and services revenue increased 28% sequentially. Following a similar pattern to the first quarter, bookings in our IP Optical segment were very strong. In fact, product and service bookings were an all-time high in the quarter, with a book-to-bill of 1.6x revenue. Overall IP Optical backlog has increased more than 60% so far this year. This includes several new data center interconnect projects and one of our strongest quarters ever in the U.S. market, supporting mission-critical networks and broadband services. The U.S. enterprise market segment was also a real highlight in the quarter. We expanded several strategic customer relationships, including voice and data projects with multiple Fortune 100 companies, including one of the nation's largest …
