Why Juniper Networks Shares Are Falling Today

Juniper Networks Inc JNPR reported Q2 2023 revenue growth of 13% Y/Y to $1.43 billion, beating the consensus of $1.42 billion.

Adjusted EPS increased to $0.58 from $0.42 a year ago and beat the consensus of $0.55.

The adjusted operating margin was 16.9%, an increase from 13.9% a year ago.

Operating cash flow was $343.0 million in Q2, compared to $266.9 million a year ago.

As of June 30, 2023, total cash, cash equivalents, and investments stood at $1.30 billion.

"While we are currently facing some near-term order weakness from our Cloud and to a lesser degree our Service Provider customers, we remain confident in our ability to deliver long-term growth based on continued Enterprise momentum and our expectations for an eventual recovery in our Cloud business," said Rami Rahim, CEO. 

Dividend: Juniper Networks declared a cash dividend per share of $0.22, payable on September 22, 2023, to stockholders of record as on September 1, 2023.

Q3 2023 Outlook: JNPR expects revenue of around $1.385 billion, plus or minus $50 million (vs. consensus of $1.48 billion), and adjusted EPS of about $0.54, plus or minus $0.05 (vs. consensus of $0.62). 

It expects an adjusted operating margin of ~16.3% at the mid-point of revenue guidance and an adjusted gross margin of ~58.5%, plus or minus 1.0%.

In Q3, the company expects to see continued weakness in bookings, mainly cloud business, due to customer digestion of previously placed orders and some projects pushed to future dates.

JNPR expects the challenging macroeconomic environment to continue impacting customer spending and revenue negatively.

Price Action: JNPR shares traded lower by 6.26% at $27.87 on the last check Friday.