Juniper posted a 14 per cent hike in fourth-quarter sales that nonetheless fell short of Wall Street expectations.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, 2008, Juniper recorded revenue of US$923.5 million, which fell short of consensus analyst estimates of $936.2 million, according to Thomson Financial. It also came in on the short side of Juniper’s guidance of $921 million to $971 million for the quarter.
Revenue was also down 2.5 per cent from the third quarter.
Earnings, excluding charges, expenses and other items, were in line with Wall Street estimates: $169 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, up 19 per cent from a year ago.
For the full year, Juniper posted revenue of $3.57 billion, a 26 per cent hike from 2007 results. Earnings, excluding charges, expenses and other items, were $650.8 million, or $1.18 per diluted share, up 36 per cent from 2007’s results.
“Even in this tough economy, we managed to grow year-over-year quarterly revenue by 14 per cent and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share by 19 per cent,” said Juniper CEO Kevin Johnson in a statement. “We continue to play offense and grow market share while at the same time taking action to responsibly manage our cost structure…. Juniper is positioned for accelerated growth once market conditions improve.”
Juniper said it is conducting a review of the operations of its Japanese distributors. In December 2008, the company became aware of facts that caused it to question the accuracy of point-of-sale reports from a few distributors in Japan with respect to a small number of transactions.
