Juniper Shares Up 5% As Q4 Results Top Estimates, Guides Q1 In Line

(RTTNews) - Shares of Juniper Networks Inc (JNPR) surged more that five percent in extended trading on Tuesday after the networking equipment maker reported results for the fourth quarter that topped analysts' expectations.

Meanwhile, the company reported a net loss for the quarter compared to a profit last year, hurt by a hefty goodwill impairment charge and double-digit revenue decline. The company also provided earnings and revenue guidance for the first quarter, in line with Street view.

"Despite the impact of a challenging near-term revenue environment, we delivered improvements across key operational metrics for both Q4 and the full year of 2014," CFO Robyn Denholm said in a statement.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company posted a net loss of $769.6 million or $1.81 per share for the fourth quarter, compared to net earnings of $151.8 million or $0.30 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Results for the latest quarter include an estimated $850 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge related to the company's security reporting unit.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter was $179.3 million or $0.41 per share, compared to $215.8 million or $0.43 per share in the year-ago quarter.

On average, 34 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 14 percent to $1.10 billion from $1.27 billion in the same quarter last year, but topped thirty-two Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. Normalized for Junos Pulse sale, net revenues decreased 11 percent.

Routing net revenues declined to $523.1 million from $617.8 million, switching net revenues decreased to $174.4 million from $ 198.7 million, and security net revenue dipped to $96.5 million from $157.0 million last year.

Americas net revenues declined to $559.5 million from $685.0 million, Europe, Middle East, and Africa net revenues decreased to $352.3 million from $358.9 million, and Asia Pacific net revenues slid to $189.8 million from $229.7 million a year ago.

Service provider market net revenues decreased to $189.8 million from $229.7 million, and enterprise market net revenues decreased to $357.2 million from $446.6 million last year.

Additionally, Juniper's Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share, payable on March 24 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 3, 2015.

"2014 was a year of change for Juniper and I'm pleased with the solid progress we made as we successfully streamlined our organization, reduced costs, increased capital returns to our shareholders and sharpened our focus on the fastest growing segments of the market," CEO Rami Rahim stated.

Looking ahead to the first quarter, Juniper expects earnings in a range of $0.28 to $0.32 per share, on projected revenues between $1.02 billion and $1.06 billion. Street is currently looking for full-year 2015 earnings of $0.30 per share, on revenues of $1.02 billion.

Looking ahead, Rahim added, "While we recognize that we have more work to do to realize Juniper's full potential, we're energized as we enter 2015. Our customers and partners across our key verticals view network innovation as fundamental to their business, and with a strong innovation pipeline, we are confident in Juniper's future and see substantial opportunities to grow and deliver value in the long term."

JNPR closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $21.83, down $0.32 or 1.44% on a volume of 5.04 million shares. However, the stock surged $1.13 or 5.18% in after-hours trading.