Juniper's Q4 sales drop 11% yoy as the company cites deployment delays from cloud customers

Juniper Networks reported net revenues of $1,239.5 million for Q4 2017, a decrease of 11% year-over-year and 1% sequentially, and also announced lowered financial expectations for Q1 2018 due to ongoing deployment delays as large cloud customers continue their architectural transition.  Juniper said it remains confident in its competitive position and strong relationship with these strategic customers.

On the earnings conference call, company execs said the weakness is primarily being driven by the shift to a scale out from scale up architecture, most notably at several of its largest cloud customers.

For Q4 2017, GAAP operating margin was 16.4%, a decrease from 20.7% in the fourth quarter of 2016, and a decrease from 18.4% in the third quarter of 2017. Non-GAAP operating margin was 22.7%, a decrease from 26.5% in the fourth quarter of 2016, and a decrease from 23.5% in the third quarter of 2017. GAAP net loss was $148.1 million, a decrease of 178% year-over-year and 189% sequentially, resulting in diluted loss per share of $0.40. GAAP net loss was primarily due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which resulted in an estimated $289.5 million of tax expense.

For full year 2017, Juniper's net revenues were $5,027.2 million, an increase of 1% year-over-year. GAAP operating margin was 16.9%, a decrease from 17.8% in fiscal year 2016. Non-GAAP net income was $809.0 million, flat year-over-year, resulting in diluted earnings per share of $2.11, an increase of 1% year-over-year.

“We continue to lead the way in helping our customers build more automated, cost efficient, scalable networks," said Rami Rahim, chief executive officer, Juniper Networks. "We believe strongly that we have the right product portfolio in place to win in this dynamic market.”