Piper Jaffray Slashes Estimates, PT on Juniper (JNPR) Following Q3 Results; Weakness Driven By Lower Carrier Spending

Piper Jaffray analyst Troy Jensen slashed estimates and his price target on Neutral-rated Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) to $21.00 (from $26.00) following disappointing results and guidance.

Jensen commented, "Juniper reported September quarter results largely in line with its pre-release, while December quarter guidance was below expectations. This weakness is being driven by less-than-anticipated service provider sales across geographies and the company noted that it expects softer carrier spend through the first half of 2015. Despite this, Juniper remains committed to cutting costs and is projecting lower Opex in 2015 along with additional capital returns to shareholders via share repurchases and dividends. While we believe valuation is starting to become compelling, at some point future earnings expansion will need to be driven by revenue growth and we believe the switching and routing markets will remain low-mid single-digit growth markets. As such, we are reiterating our Neutral rating and lowering our price target to $21 (from $26) on JNPR shares."

The firm cut FY 2014 EPS from $1.51 to $1.35 and FY 2015 EPS from $1.76 to $1.56.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Juniper Networks click here. For more ratings news on Juniper Networks click here.

Shares of Juniper Networks closed at $20.32 yesterday.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Zillow Group (ZG) PT Lowered to $53 at BofA Securities
• Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NWBI) PT Lowered to $10 at Piper Sandler
• FirstEnergy Corp. (FE) PT Raised to $35 at BofA Securities