Juniper Cuts Q1 Forecast

Shares of Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) are up nearly 10 percent in after-hours trading today, after the company said first-quarter revenues would sag, but profits would not.

It's the latter point that investors seem to like. Juniper had set the cost-cutting wheels in motion late last year, lowering executive salaries and cutting other costs while planning to leave R&D intact. (See Juniper Tightens Its Belt.)

Analysts doubted the plan -- which appeared to leave Juniper no recourse if revenues worsened -- but so far, it looks like it's worked.

While revenues for the quarter ended in March will be $760 million to $765 million -- well down from the $800 million to $830 million Juniper had predicted -- net income will be 16 or 17 cents per share, about what Juniper was expecting. (See Juniper Lowers Forecast.)

What's amusing is that Wall Street didn't quite believe Juniper's forecast in the first place. Analysts polled by Thomson agreed on net income of 17 cents per share, but their average revenue prediction was just $794 million.

Juniper stock was trading up $1.43 (9.1%) at $17.05 in early after-hours trading.

Juniper reports earnings on April 23.

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading