Fans Juiced for Juniper
04/23/07 - 07:12 AM EDT
Scott Moritz
A new year. A new set of executives. And now Juniper (JNPR Quote - Cramer on JNPR - Stock Picks) fans want some new sales growth.
Investors will be watching for signs of vigor from the Sunnyvale, Calif., Internet gearmaker when it delivers first quarter results after the market's close Monday. With gear peer Cisco (CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks) hitting on all cylinders of late, industry watchers are somewhat optimistic that Juniper is enjoying some of the same equipment spending trends. "We believe [the] company had a strong infrastructure quarter, both at the core and edge with solid growth in security sales," UBS analyst Nikos Theodosopolous wrote in a Juniper preview report. Early Monday, UBS upgraded the stock to buy from neutral, citing strong demand from the likes of Verizon (VZ Quote - Cramer on VZ - Stock Picks). As cylinders go, that's just about everything under Juniper's hood. The concerns of course have more to do with the bottom line and, more specifically, the company's margins. After stumbling badly over the past two years, Juniper has been trying to rebuild its research and development efforts and its sales teams. It's a costly process but necessary, say analysts, if the company hopes to win back some of its businesses. This process has been lengthy and not particularly rewarding for shareholders so far, though shares have rallied off last summer's lows in the low teens. Juniper fell 7 cents Friday to $20.50, putting them within a dollar and change of their 52-week high.
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