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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (9390)	4/11/2003 2:24:07 AM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95622

Juniper Posts Profit, Sees Sales Flat to Up Thu Apr 10, 8:13 PM ET Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo! story.news.yahoo.com By Jim Christie SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:JNPR - news), the No. 2 network equipment maker, on Thursday posted a net profit in the first quarter versus a loss a year earlier, as revenues rose despite the overall spending slump in the telecommunications industry. The rival of networking industry leader Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news) also projected current quarter revenues would be flat to slightly higher, with earnings before items flat from the first quarter. Shares in Juniper rose to $8.90 in after-market trade after closing at $8.41 on Thursday on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Juniper reported first-quarter net income of $3.7 million, or 1 cent a share, compared with a net loss of $46.0 million, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenues rose to $157.2 million from $122.2 million a year earlier as sales of both products and services improved. The company posted earnings excluding items of $6.3 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with earnings before items of $423,000, or nil per share, a year earlier. Analysts had, on average, expected earnings before items of 1 cent a share, according to tracking service Thomson First Call. Juniper in January said it was confident it could post first-quarter revenues of $155 million, or flat with the fourth quarter, as visibility in the hard-hit market for communications equipment improved. The Sunnyvale, California-based company said it expected revenues in a range of $157 million to $160 million and earnings excluding charges of 2 cents in its June-ended quarter. That forecast was slightly higher than the cautious consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts. On average, analysts had forecasts earnings per share before charges of 1 cent on revenue of $156.5 million. BALANCED BUSINESS Juniper Chairman and Chief Executive Scott Kriens told Reuters that Juniper was confident it can hold the line on revenues because its business is balanced in terms of products, services, customers and regional markets. Asia, which accounts for about 25 percent of Juniper's sales, remains the company's strongest market, Kriens said. "Asia is a very good market, and within Asia, China and Japan are good opportunities for us," Kriens said, adding the company also saw improved prospects in Europe, which accounts for about 27 percent of sales. "We're cautiously optimistic about it," Kriens said of Europe. Pacific Growth Equities analyst Erik Suppiger warned that Juniper still faces a challenging market. "On revenues, it was modest upside," Suppiger said of the company's first-quarter results. "But there is not evidence of an overall recovery in the market. We're still looking at a relatively flat market." Once high-flying network gear makers have struggled amid the long-running downturn in the telecommunications industry, which has forced carriers and Internet service providers to slash equipment spending. Sluggish corporate spending on information technology during a slow economy also has hurt network equipment makers. The American Stock Exchange Network Index (^NWX - news) is down 90 percent from its all-time high in September 2000.