Juniper Networks Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Updated

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of networking equipment maker Juniper Networks (NAS: JNPR) popped 11% today following bullish comments from an analyst at Jefferies regarding AT&T's (NYS: T) fiscal 2012 budget.

So what: In a note released this morning, Jeffries analyst George Notter said that AT&T plans to upgrade the network infrastructure of thousands of cell sites in order to increase networking speed, coverage, and reliability. This is great news for Juniper, which had suffered from weak capex spending from large telecommunications providers.

Now what: This is actually great news for all equipment makers if Mr. Notter's note is indeed true. A systemwide upgrade in cap ex spending from the Big Three (AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint Nextel) would likely mean that upside earnings revisions would soon follow for networking equipment makers. Juniper is slated to grow at 13% over the next five years, and I continue to like the company's prospects over the long term.

Craving more input? Start by adding Juniper Networks to your free and personalized watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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