In a statement, CEO Rami Rahim said the company saw better-than-expected demand in the quarter.
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Juniper Networks shares were losing ground in after-hours trading Thursday after reporting fourth-quarter results that were slightly ahead of both the company’s guidance and Street estimates.
For the quarter, the networking equipment provider posted revenues of $1.22 billion, up 1% from a year ago, and ahead of the company’s own projection of $1.19 billion. Non-GAAP profits were 55 cents a share, two cents better than guidance. On both the top- and bottom-lines, the Street consensus was right in-line with the company’s guidance.
For the March quarter, Juniper (ticker: JNPR) projects revenue of $1.05 billion, up 6% from a year earlier and ahead of the previous Street consensus at $1.03 billion. Juniper sees non-GAAP profits in the quarter of 25 cents a share, matching the current Street view.
Routing revenue was $462.4 million, up 9.5% from a year ago. Switching revenue was $261.3 million, down 2.2%. Security revenues were $86.5 million, down 13.8%. Total product revenue was $810.2 million, up 2.3%, while services revenue was $412.4 million, down less than 1%.
The company also breaks down revenue by end market. Cloud revenue was $280.7 million, up fractionally from a year ago. Service provider revenue slipped 3.6% to $474.9 million. Enterprise revenues were $467 million, up 7.1%.
In a statement, CEO Rami Rahim said the company saw better-than-expected demand in the quarter. “Despite the various challenges presented by the pandemic, we achieved many of the objectives we laid out earlier in the year, which included growing our enterprise business for a fourth consecutive year, growing our cloud business for a second consecutive year and stabilizing our service provider business,” he said. ”We believe these outcomes are a direct result of the strategic actions we have taken, which should position us for sustainable full-year revenue growth starting this year.”
Apparently, investors were expecting a more substantial earnings beat. Juniper shares, which fell 5.4% to $26.11 in the regular session on Thursday, have slipped 4.3%, to $25, in late trading.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
