Juniper Stock Slides As Company Cuts Q3 Guidance

Shares in Juniper Networks were down more than 5% in pre-market trading Friday, the morning after the company announced that it was reducing third quarter revenue guidance.

Juniper said revenues for the period are now expected to be in the range of $1.11 billion to $1.12 billion, down from previous guidance of $1.15 billion to $1.2 billion. The primary culprit: lower-than-anticipated demand from service providers, particularly in the U.S.

Juniper, citing its ongoing cost-reduction initiatives, said it also expects non-GAAP net  income per diluted share to be in the range of 34 cents to 36 cents, versus original guidance of 35 cents to 40 cents per diluted share. Juniper Networks will release third quarter results on October 23.

Juniper is looking to expand its cable presence in part by partnering with Gainspeed on a “virtual” form of a Converged Cable Access Platform. Juniper has also invested in the cable access startup.

Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold maintained his “market perform” ranking on Juniper. “We think Juniper's cost cutting and efforts to evolve to adapt to software centric networks offer encouragement, but we think it's prudent to stay on the sidelines on the stock,” Leopold wrote in a research note issued Friday.

Juniper shares were down $1.14 (5.44%) to $19.80 each in pre-market trading Friday.