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Technology Stocks : Juniper Networks - JNPR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (3223)	7/9/2002 6:41:35 PM
From: Ibexx	Respond to of 3350

Tuesday July 9, 6:30 pm Eastern Time Reuters Company News Europe optical network spending set to grow-study SAN FRANCISCO, July 9 (Reuters) - Spending by European telecom carriers on optical equipment will more than double to $6.3 billion over the next four years to meet growing demand for broadband connections, according to a report on Tuesday. Of that spending, European carriers and service providers will nearly triple investments in network routers and switches between this year and 2006 to $4.5 billion, according to the report by research firm Infonetics Research Inc. The report provided a glimmer of hope for network equipment makers, some of the most battered technology companies. Their revenues and shares have plunged as carrier financial troubles mounted, leading to sharply reduced spending on equipment in the bigger U.S. market. The American Stock Exchange Network Index (AMEX:^NWX - News) on Tuesday closed at 142.71, down 90 percent from its all-time high of 1,401.26 on Sept. 1, 2000. No. 2 Internet router maker Juniper Networks Inc. (NasdaqNM:JNPR - News), for instance, relies heavily on carriers for sales and its shares have dropped 74 percent over the past 52 weeks. Juniper reports second-quarter results on Thursday. Analysts, on average, expect revenues of $109.6 million -- down 46 percent from $202.2 million a year earlier, according to research firm Thomson First Call. Kevin Mitchell, directing analyst for Infonetics, cautioned that the forecast only projects growth starting in 2003. "It's not rosy in the immediate future," he said. Longer-term, however, European carriers need to get more traffic on and revenue from their underused long-distance networks, Mitchell said. That makes the "metro market," where households and businesses link to broadband networks the "bright spot" in Europe for network gear sales, said Richard Webb, European market analyst with Infonetics. Among the services European consumers and businesses will be pitched: Virtual private networks, network storage and security, voice-over-Internet protocol and wireless data access and management, Mitchell said. ibexx