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When enterprise clients slow down purchases, and Internet service providers delay capital expenditures, Juniper Networks ( JNPR ) has a problem. The top computer-networking gear maker not named Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) pre-announced just such a first-quarter situation after the market close Monday, sending networking stocks lower Tuesday. Juniper stock was down more than 9% in morning trading in the stock market today , below 23, as at least three investment banks lowered their price target. Cisco stock was down 1%, near 27. The IBD Computer-Networking industry group was down 1.4%. Shares of Arista Networks ( ANET ) and rival Brocade Communications Systems ( BRCD ) were each down 2%. Chips stocks weren’t faring much better. IBD’s Electronics-Semiconductor Manufacturing industry group was down 1% and had been down more than 4%, while the Electronics-Semiconductor Fabless group also was down 1%. Microsemi ( MSCC ) was down nearly 3%, MaxLinear ( MXL ) 1%, and Inphi ( IPHI ) was weaker by more than 1% — though all had been down more than 3% earlier. FBN Securities analyst Shebly Seyrafi dropped his price target for Juniper stock to 25 from 27 and maintained a sector perform rating. “The primary reasons for the weakness include weaker-than-anticipated demand from enterprise (customers) and the timing of deployments of certain U.S. and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Tier 1 telecoms,” Seyrafi wrote in a research note Tuesday. “It is somewhat disappointing to see the weakness in EMEA telecoms (which was the case in fiscal Q4 as well), especially considering that in Q4, JNPR’s service provider segment grew by a strong 25% year over year and that JNPR had an easy compare in the Q1 service provider segment (where revenue declined 8% year over year the year before).” Seyrafi noted that AT&T ( T ) expects to grow capital expenditures 6% to $22 billion this year, while Verizon ( VZ ) implied a 3% decline in capex to a range of $17.2 billion to $17.8 billion. “So U.S.-based service providers will likely not be driving much growth for communication equipment suppliers this year,” he said. Juniper Notes March Rebound “We do think that Juniper felt what Cisco (outperform-rated) noted in February, namely that some customers paused to digest what was happening following financial market turbulence at the beginning of the year,” Seyrafi wrote. “However, we do note that financial markets rebounded in March, and JNPR CEO Rami Rahim stated that the company remains constructive on fiscal 2016 as the company expects new products to add to growth while the company maintains ongoing focus on cost discipline.” Juniper said that it expects to report earnings per share minus items of 35 cents to 37 cents, down from its prior guidance of 42-46 cents. Wall Street had expected 43-44 cents, up 34% to 38% from Q1 2015. Juniper’s new midpoint, 36 cents, would be up 12%. Juniper expects Q1 revenue of $1.09 billion to $1.10 billion, down from its prior guidance of $1.15 billion to $1.19 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected $1.16 billion, up 8.4%. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper is set to release full Q1 results after the close April 28. William Blair analyst Jason Ader maintained his outperform rating on Juniper stock but “modestly lowered” full-year estimates for 2016 and 2017. Analyst Alex Henderson at Needham reiterated his hold rating and said that he’s “firmly on the sidelines,” as he too trimmed estimates. “While we see Juniper as one of the weaker companies in our coverage, there could be read-throughs to other names such as Cisco, F5 Networks ( FFIV ) and Viavi ( VIAV ),” Henderson said in a Tuesday research note. “We think Arista and Gigamon ( GIMO ) are likely to be able to power through the choppy environment. Given the magnitude of the (Juniper) top-line miss, we think estimates for Q2 will have to be ratcheted back as well.” F5 stock was down 2% Tuesday morning, while Gigamon was down 1% and Viavi Solutions off 1.5%. Scalper1 News
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