Juniper Tests Wall Street's Growth Gab

Juniper (JNPR Quote) will make for a handy test of Wall Street's optimism Thursday evening, as the tech shop is due to report third-quarter earnings after the market closes.

Top-line expectations have been creeping up in recent days as analysts draw rosy conclusions about the Sunnyvale, Calif., networking gearmaker's performance. Some Juniper watchers say there's even a revenue "whisper number" being bandied about -- an earnings-scorecard throwback to the bubble era that many traders presumably regard as the number to watch.

Juniper's financial report officially kicks off earnings season for the big telecom-equipment suppliers. The Street tends to get a little whipped up about Juniper, proxy that it is to outfits like Cisco (CSCO Quote) and upstart contender to the old iron giants like Lucent (LU Quote) and Nortel (NT Quote).

But some analysts say the enthusiasm may lead to a repeat of the market's disappointment the last time we saw the Juniper earnings show. The stock fell 5% in postmarket trading on July 10 after the company reported solid numbers but failed to turn in a dazzling performance or raise its outlook. ...