Juniper Networks (JNPR) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $11.31B
• Dividend Yield: 2.59%
• Average Volume (3M): 3.04M
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 39.5
• Beta (1Y): 0.45
• Revenue Growth: -8.82%
• EPS Growth: -10.01%
• Country: US
• Employees: 11,271
• Sector: Technology
• Sector Strength: 40
• Industry: Communication Equipment
• EPS (TTM): 0.85
• Shares Outstanding: 333,189,760
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 2,287,072
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 3,039,190
• PEG Ratio: N/A
• Price to Book (P/B): N/A
• Price to Sales (P/S): 2.37
• Price to Cash Flow (P/CF): 10.70
• P/FCF Ratio: 10.70
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: N/A
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: N/A
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: N/A
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: N/A
• 1Y Price Target: $39.80
• Price Target Upside: 17.23% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Hold
• Number of Analyst Covering: 6

Juniper Networks receives a score of 60, reflecting stable financials but highlighting key areas of concern. The company's profitability and cash flow management face challenges, and technical indicators suggest bearish sentiment. The high P/E ratio indicates potential overvaluation, while the DOJ's challenge to the HPE merger introduces strategic uncertainty.

Positive Factors

Analyst Recommendation

The analyst is upgrading Juniper Networks to Outperform, indicating an expectation of potential upside to the current share price.

Cloud Revenue

Cloud orders grew ~200% year-over-year, with strength continuing from last quarter as expected, as Juniper results benefit from the xAI deal.

Financial Performance

Free cash flow significantly increased to $253 million compared to $162 million in the prior period and $74 million a year ago.

Negative Factors

Earnings Expectations

Despite reporting better-than-Street expectations for non-GAAP revenue and EPS, results were still worse than initial expectations from the beginning of the year.

Legal Challenges

The US DOJ filed a lawsuit against HPE to block its pending acquisition of Juniper, arguing it would significantly reduce competition in the enterprise WLAN market.

Service Provider Revenue

Service Provider revenue declined by 9% year-over-year, with weakness driven by wide area networking.

Juniper Networks Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

Juniper Networks, Inc. designs, develops, and sells network products and services worldwide. The company offers routing products, such as ACX series universal access routers to deploy high-bandwidth services; MX series Ethernet routers that function as a universal edge platform; PTX series packet transport routers; wide-area network SDN controllers; and session smart routers. It also provides switching products, including EX series Ethernet switches to address the access, aggregation, and core layer switching requirements of micro branch, branch office, and campus environments; QFX series of core, spine, and top-of-rack data center switches; and juniper access points, which provide Wi-Fi access and performance. In addition, the company offers security products comprising SRX series services gateways for the data center; Branch SRX family provides an integrated and next-generation firewall; virtual firewall that delivers various features of physical firewalls; and advanced malware protection, a cloud-based service and Juniper ATP. Further, it offers Junos OS, a network operating system; Contrail networking, which provides an open-source and standards-based platform for SDN; Mist AI-driven Wired, Wireless, and WAN assurance solutions to set and measure key metrics; Mist AI-driven Marvis Virtual Network Assistant, which identifies the root cause of issues; Juniper Paragon Automation, a modular portfolio of cloud-native software applications; and Juniper Apstra to automate the network lifecycle in a single system. Additionally, the company provides software-as-a-service, technical support, maintenance, and professional services, as well as education and training programs. It sells its products through direct sales, distributors, value-added resellers, and original equipment manufacturers to end-users in the cloud, service provider, and enterprise markets. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

How the Company Makes Money

Juniper Networks primarily generates revenue through the sale of its networking equipment and software solutions. The company's key revenue streams include hardware sales, such as routers and switches, which form the backbone of data centers and enterprise networks. Additionally, Juniper offers a range of software solutions, including network management and automation software, which contribute to its revenue. The company also earns from providing technical support and maintenance services to its clients. Juniper Networks has established strategic partnerships with various technology companies and service providers to expand its market reach and enhance its product offerings, further contributing to its earnings. The company's focus on innovation and development in areas like cybersecurity and cloud networking also plays a significant role in driving its financial performance.

Juniper Networks Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Juniper Networks shows stable financial performance with consistent revenue generation and a solid balance sheet. However, profitability is under pressure, and cash flow management requires improvement.

Income Statement

Juniper Networks has shown consistent revenue generation with a total revenue of $5.56 billion in 2023, although it declined from 2022. The gross profit margin has been stable, averaging around 57.5% over the recent years. The company has faced pressure on its net profit margin, which stands at approximately 5.6% in 2023, indicating that profitability has been an area of concern. Revenue growth has been inconsistent, with a notable decline from 2022 to 2023. Despite these challenges, EBIT and EBITDA margins have remained healthy, suggesting efficient core operations.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet reflects a solid financial position with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38 in 2023, suggesting moderate leverage. Juniper maintains a healthy equity ratio of approximately 47.2%, indicating a strong equity base relative to its total assets. Return on equity was around 6.9% in 2023, showing decent returns on shareholders’ investments. These metrics highlight the company's stability but also suggest room for improving profitability.

Cash Flow

Juniper's cash flow analysis shows variability, with operating cash flow decreasing to $788 million in 2023. Free cash flow showed a slight decline to $672 million, indicating potential challenges in cash generation. The free cash flow to net income ratio reflects a strong conversion of earnings to cash. The operating cash flow to net income ratio was approximately 2.8, illustrating relatively good cash flow management despite fluctuations in free cash flow growth.

Breakdown
Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021	Dec 2020
Income Statement		Total Revenue
5.07B	5.56B	5.30B	4.74B	4.45B
	Gross Profit
2.98B	3.20B	2.96B	2.74B	2.57B
	EBIT
291.80M	470.10M	519.10M	533.90M	544.10M
	EBITDA
536.20M	621.20M	757.00M	636.30M	549.00M
	Net Income Common Stockholders
287.90M	310.20M	471.00M	252.70M	257.80M
Balance Sheet		Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments
1.38B	1.21B	1.09B	1.24B	1.77B
	Total Assets
10.01B	9.52B	9.33B	8.89B	9.38B
	Total Debt
1.75B	1.70B	1.72B	1.83B	2.29B
	Net Debt
526.30M	631.60M	838.90M	906.50M	928.90M
	Total Liabilities
5.22B	5.03B	4.85B	4.57B	4.83B
	Stockholders Equity
4.78B	4.49B	4.48B	4.32B	4.54B
Cash Flow		Free Cash Flow
672.60M	713.40M	-7.50M	589.70M	511.60M
	Operating Cash Flow
788.10M	872.80M	97.60M	689.70M	612.00M
	Investing Cash Flow
-390.30M	-67.60M	407.50M	13.80M	-288.90M
	Financing Cash Flow
-232.70M	-618.80M	-528.40M	-1.13B	-222.40M

Juniper Networks Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 33.95
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Negative
• MACD: Negative
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For JNPR, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 33.95 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 35.84, below the 50-day MA of 35.87, and below the 200-day MA of 37.05, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of 0.03 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 52.93 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 63.87 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for JNPR.

Juniper Networks Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
NOK	75 Outperform	$26.18B	19.39	8.27%	2.11%	-12.68%	90.73%
CSCO	74 Outperform	$216.98B	23.90	20.02%	2.93%	-5.34%	-30.57%
ERIC	73 Outperform	$23.80B	11,616.67	0.15%	2.48%	-5.59%	―
UI	71 Outperform	$16.54B	37.18	323.87%	0.88%	14.59%	19.51%
HPE	67 Neutral	$16.80B	6.33	12.09%	4.07%	10.93%	43.19%
JNPR	60 Neutral	$11.31B	39.46	6.21%	2.59%	-8.82%	-10.01%
Sector *	57 Neutral	$18.54B	9.84	-14.38%	2.71%	5.07%	-23.65%

Juniper Networks Corporate Events

Juniper Networks Faces DOJ Challenge in HPE Merger

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks announced a merger agreement where Juniper will become a wholly owned subsidiary of HPE. However, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on January 30, 2025, to block this acquisition, citing antitrust concerns in the Wireless Local Area Network market. The companies argue that the merger is pro-competitive and will enhance innovation, competition, and national security, with support from customers and clearance from other international antitrust regulators.