Juniper Shares Rise On Better-than-expected Q1 Results, Upbeat Outlook

(RTTNews) - Shares of Juniper Networks Inc (JNPR) gained more than 6 percent in extended trades Thursday after the networking equipment maker reported results for the first quarter that topped analysts' expectations and also provided an upbeat outlook for the second quarter.

However, the company's net income for the first quarter declined on lower revenues, while the prior-year quarter's results were boosted by an investment gain.

Rami Rahim, chief executive officer of Juniper Networks said, "We are off to a good start to 2015, delivering solid results for the first quarter and making significant progress against our key initiatives for the year. Our sharpened focus resulted in improved execution and momentum across our key customer verticals."

The Sunnyvale, California-based company posted net income for the first quarter of $80.2 million or $0.19 per share, down from $110.6 million or $0.22 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Results for the prior-year period included a gain on equity investments of $164.0 million.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter was $131.6 million or $0.32 per share, compared to $142.6 million or $0.29 per share in the year-ago quarter.

On average, 31 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.31 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net revenues for the quarter declined 9 percent to $1.07 billion from $1.17 billion in the same quarter last year, but topped analysts' consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Normalized for Junos Pulse sale, net revenues decreased 6 percent.

Routing net revenues declined 8 percent to $504.8 million, switching net revenues decreased 13 percent to $166.5 million and security net revenue dipped 41 percent to $92.8 million.

Total service net revenues rose 3 percent to $303.3 million.

Additionally, Juniper's board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share, payable on June 23 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 2, 2015.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, Juniper forecasts adjusted earnings of $0.38 to $0.42 per share on revenues of $1.09 billion to $1.12 billion. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $0.38 per share for the second quarter on revenues of $1.09 billion.

Juniper continues to see the long-term demand drivers as healthy and said it is confident in its innovation pipeline. Juniper expects to return to its historical pattern of higher revenue in the second half of 2015 versus the first half of the year.

JNPR closed Thursday's regular trading session at $24.00, down $0.39 or 1.60 percent on a volume of 9.06 million shares. However, the stock surged $1.50 or 6.25 percent in after-hours trading.