Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR)
reported preliminary fourth-quarter
results Tuesday that came in below expectations and were delivered alongside a concerning outlook. Here's how five
analysts reacted.
The Analysts
Wells Fargo's Aaron Rakers maintains a Market Perform rating on
Juniper Networks with an unchanged $27 price target. Morgan Stanley's James Faucette
maintains at Underweight, unchanged $20 price target. MKM Partners' Michael Genovese maintains at Neutral, price target lowered
from $29 to $27. Raymond James' Simon Leopold maintains at Outperform, price target lowered from $30 to $28. KeyBanc Capital
Markets' Alex Kurtz maintains at Sector Weight, no price target.
Wells Fargo: 5 Items That Matter Most
Juniper's announcement
shifted the company to a "prove-it story" over the coming quarters, Rakers said in a Wednesday note.
The analyst's five primary takeaways were:
- Q4 cloud revenue was down 8 percent both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, and new use cases are needed to hit
growth targets.
- Changes to the sales force present a near-term challenge.
- The switching business was mixed, with the Ex-series showing growth and the QFX product family declining.
- An accelerated share repurchase program was announced.
- Security revenue grew 34 percent sequentially, and the company highlighted an uptick in deals worth more than $1 million in
the quarter.
Morgan Stanley: Remaining Growth Driver Is Slowing
Juniper's cloud/hyperscale segment is both "elusive" and "discouraging" after management said it needs new use cases to hit its
growth targets, Faucette said in a Wednesday note.
The service provider business declined 11 percent, which was worse than the negative 5 to negative 1 percent expected; and the
timing for any boost from 5G remains unclear, the analyst said.
Enterprise — Juniper's only growth vertical — will likely slow throughout a challenging 2019, Faucette said. It likely
benefited in 2018 from a strong IT spending environment and the end stages of upgrade activity, he said.
Related Link: Juniper
Networks Powered By Several Growth Drivers, Nomura Instinet Says In Upgrade
MKM: Routing 'Not A Winning Category'
Routing is "not a winning category" due to concerns about the secular outlook from virtualization, Genovese said in a Wednesday
note. The company's cloud routing business isn't looking attractive either, with too much secular pricing pressure, he said, adding
that expectations for it to come "storming back" in 2019 or 2020 are unrealistic.
Raymond James: Road To Recovery Exists
Juniper's sales miss and poor guidance are certainly "disappointing," but there is still a "road to recovery," Leopold said in a
Tuesday note. The company expects to see growth from cloud spending, and investors shouldn't lose faith in this vertical, he
said.
Upcoming earnings reports from web scale operators could "restore hope" that cloud spending trends are still growing, although
at a decelerated pace, the analyst said.
Other opportunities include foundational 5G mobility spending, 400G in the data center, increased software traction and a
refresh to Juniper's security platform, in MKM's view.
KeyBanc: Impact On Other Names
Juniper's enterprise segment showed signs of strength, which likely signals stable demand for general networking spend and may
readout as a positive for Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Kurtz said in a Tuesday note.
The readout to Arista Networks Inc (NYSE: ANET) is less certain, as spend across different layers of the network stack vary
from quarter to quarter, the analyst said.
Price Action
Juniper shares were down 7.58 percent at $25.83 at the close Wednesday.
Related Link: Deutsche
Bank: Buy The Dip In Juniper Networks
Latest Ratings for JNPR
Date |
Firm |
Action |
From |
To |
Jan 2019 |
Bank of America |
Downgrades |
Buy |
Underperform |
Nov 2018 |
Citigroup |
Maintains |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Sep 2018 |
UBS |
Initiates Coverage On |
|
Neutral |
View More Analyst Ratings for
JNPR
View the Latest Analyst
Ratings
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