Juniper Lowers Third-Quarter Earnings Forecast

Juniper Networks officials, pointing to softer demand from service providers for the company’s products than expected, said third-quarter financial numbers will come in lower than originally forecast.

The company said Oct. 9 that revenues will come in between $1.11 billion and $1.12 billion, below the networking vendor’s previous guidance of $1.15 billion to $1.2 billion.

Juniper will announce its third-quarter financial numbers Oct. 23.

The lowered guidance comes after what was a strong second quarter, when revenues hit $1.23 billion, a 7 percent increase from the same period in 2013. It also comes as the company continues to execute on a restructuring plan CEO Shaygan Kheradpir laid out in March that includes focusing on high-growth markets; consolidate much of its networking, security and management software into a single portfolio; pare R&D costs and return $3 billion to investors.

As part of the plan, Juniper announced in April that it was cutting 6 percent of its workforce—about 560 jobs—and this month closed a $250 million deal to sell its Junos Pulse mobile security business to private equity firm Siris Capital. The business is now an independent company called PulseSecure.

In its announcement regarding the third-quarter financial numbers, Juniper officials noted the ongoing cost-cutting efforts at the company.

Juniper has been under pressure from investors Jana Partners and Elliott Management to streamline the business, reduce expenses and return more money to investors. The investors have touted Juniper’s products, but have argued that the company is undervalued and needed to make some changes.

Elliott Management also has been an outspoken investor at other companies, including Riverbed Technology and data storage giant EMC. Elliott officials want EMC to sell off its 80 percent stake in virtualization pioneer VMware.