JNPR ($18-$16) P/E 122...earnings in line, rev's a little light, warns for current Q...
15-Jan-02
16:23 ET Juniper Ntwks (JNPR) 17.80 -0.30 (-1.7%): -- Update -- Announced Q4 EPS of $0.05, in line with consensus; revs of $151.0 mln were lighter than consensus of $152.9 mln.
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (Reuters) - Network equipment maker Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:JNPR - news) on Tuesday posted a fourth-quarter net loss amid the drop-off in capital spending by telecommunication carriers and forecast essentially flat revenues for the current quarter.
Juniper, which last month slashed its earnings and revenue outlook for the fourth quarter, reported a net loss of $5.1 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with net income of $62.2 million, or 18 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell nearly 49 percent to $151 million.
Excluding charges, Juniper reported fourth-quarter earnings of $15.9 million, or 5 cents per share, down from $84.6 million, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts had been looking for Juniper, the No. 2 maker of Internet gear behind Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news), to report earnings before charges of 4 to 8 cents per share, with a mean forecast of 5 cents, according to research firm Thomson Financial/First Call. Ahead of its Dec. 20 profit warning, analysts had expected 10 cents.
Juniper said it expects that in its current first quarter it will post revenues between $150 million and $155 million, and earnings excluding charges -- or pro forma earnings -- of 3 cents a share.
CAUTIOUS GUIDANCE
The company said that for the first half of 2002 its revenues would be between $305 million and $315 million and earnings per share, excluding charges, would be 7 cents.
``The guidance was pretty flat, making it pretty conservative,'' said Victor Valdivia, an analyst with Hudson River Analytics.
Shares in Juniper moved higher in after-hours trading, breaking an eight-session losing streak. The stock traded as high as $18.50 on Instinet, up from a Nasdaq close of $17.96.
The shares, which lost 85 percent of their value in 2001, have rallied sharply from their all-time low of $8.90 on Sept. 27, 2001.
Analysts said that the company's cautious guidance for the coming two quarters shifted the question of how strong the recovery will be to the second half.
``It's pretty neutral,'' said Jeff Lipton, an analyst with JPMorgan H&Q. ``The question is whether they'll be able to ramp in the second half of the year. It's too early to tell.''
Juniper in October disappointed Wall Street when it revised its fourth-quarter guidance, cutting its revenue outlook to between $150 million and $155 million from an earlier estimate of $200 million.
Network equipment makers were hit hard last year as telecommunications carriers and Internet service providers cut capital spending to combat a glut of equipment inventory and in response to the weak economy.
Juniper in its fourth quarter recorded its third straight quarterly net loss. ``It's just generally a difficult market,'' said Chet White, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities. |
