Juniper Jumps After Blowout Second Quarter

On Tuesday's call with investors, Juniper raised guidance for the current quarter ending in September. Finance chief Gani told analysts the company should report non-GAAP earnings of 11 cents a share on sales somewhere between $356 million and $370 million. Analysts had been looking for a dime profit on $344 million in revenue.

Juniper also expects gross margins to expand to a range between 69% and 70%. Previous gross margins in the second quarter were 68%.

CEO Kriens said the company was ahead of schedule on its integration of NetScreen, an acquisition that closed in April.

'Fabulous'

Tuesday's numbers were quickly celebrated by Wall Street, which had been alert for signs of Juniper's own progress as well as for the health of a key sector. Juniper competes with corporate networking juggernaut Cisco (CSCO) in the so-called core router segment, selling devices that move data traffic along communications networks. But the company also vies with big phone gear makers Nortel (NT) and Lucent (LU) for the affections of the deep-pocketed local phone companies.

Tuesday proved an eventful day across the industry, as Lucent finalized a big network upgrade deal with Verizon Wireless and Nortel said it would have to reconsider its cost structure once again.

For its part, Juniper has seen its stock -- the beneficiary of a wild January rally on the back of a blowout fourth quarter -- sputter and misfire ever since February's NetScreen deal. But late Tuesday, the Juniper fans were back in earnest.

"Come on, they put up $300-plus million and the whisper was $290 million," said one hedge fund manager. "This is good -- in fact, fabulous."

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