Juniper Networks: Color on qtr
- Needham Research notes Juniper reported very weak results with sharp declines in Routing and Switching products and offered a meaningfully lower guide for CY4Q. Despite having cut estimates prior on the pre-release, firm is again cutting estimates after the weak guide and conference call commentary. Juniper noted they expected continuing weak results in CY4Q and CY1Q and CY2Q. Despite the activist involvement and the added restructuring and the aggressive buybacks, Needham remains on the sidelines. Maintaining Hold rating.
- Oppenheimer notes Juniper reported results in line with its pre-announcement and provided a very poor 4Q14 outlook suggesting a rebound only late in 2H15. With SP spending in North America partly constrained given pending acquisitions and mostly focused on wireless near term, firm believes Juniper could be in for a 3-4 qtr. spending lull before patterns improve. Complicating this, switching results disappointed and visibility in general is constrained. All of this said, with an activist involved, incremental cost cutting in place, and a more aggressive buyback, Oppenheimer sees limited downside and maintains Outperform rating. Lowers tgt to $24 from $28.
- Northland Capital notes Juniper followed its preannounced 3Q with a sharply lower sales outlook through mid 2015. Deeper opex reductions and a more aggressive buyback cushion the EPS impact. Firm is lowering estimates though retain Market Perform rating. Firm anticipates more detail at next week's NYC analyst day.
- RBC Capital notes Juniper is cutting opex, repurchasing stock to buffer EPS, but magnitude and duration of revenue weakness leaves concerns about structural business changes. Pricing pressure, expanding customer choice and migration to the cloud mean Juniper needs to make changes or faces further constraints to growth. More opex cuts imply declining competitiveness as Juniper may be spread too thin across end markets and products. Tgt declines to $18.