Juniper Scores in Q4

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) might have had some rocky headlines lately, especially with its chief operating officer departing, but its earnings report delivered today ended 2007 with a bang.

For the fourth quarter ended December 31, Juniper reported revenues of $809.2 million and net income of $127.9 million, or 22 cents per share, ahead of third-quarter revenues of $735 million and net income of $85.1 million, or 15 cents per share.

For its fourth quarter a year ago, Juniper reported revenues of $595.8 million and net income of $71 million, or 12 cents per share.

Non-GAAP earnings of 27 cents per share beat the analyst forecast of 24 cents as tallied by Thomson Financial .

Juniper shares were up $1.20 (4.6%) at $27.50 each in early after-hours trading Thursday.

It's been a tumultuous month for Juniper. The company's prized chief operating officer, former Macromedia CEO Stephen Elop, left the company after just one year of service. And Juniper confirmed it's discontinuing the DX line of enterprise gear from its 2005 acquisition of Redline Networks. (See Juniper COO Elopes With Microsoft and Juniper Flatlines Redline.)

But naturally, the company had good news to announce alongside its upbeat earnings numbers. During a conference call with analysts, CEO Scott Kriens noted that the MX series of Ethernet gear is selling at a run rate of $200 million per year -- up from the pace of $100 million per annum it was seeing just three months ago. (See Juniper Gains Ethernet Mojo.)

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading