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Juniper Aims to Boost Network Services With Netrounds Buyout

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Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR - Free Report) has inked an agreement to acquire Netrounds, a network testing and monitoring expert. The Sunnyvale, CA-based company intends to reinforce its lineup of WAN products, to provide greater levels of automated assurance to complex networks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2007, Sweden-based Netrounds checks if network services are running as per configuration and working during their lifecycle. The buyout will augment Juniper’s automated WAN solutions to streamline operations for service providers while ensuring better end-user experiences. The Netrounds platform can be used to test a 5G network slice, analyze the impacts of a new cloud service, or resolve performance issues on SD-WAN.

Netrounds connects the missing link between services and networks, assuring the quality of service from a customer’s viewpoint. Its technology complements Juniper’s existing automation capabilities to ensure that end users have an exceptional experience. The Netrounds solution is software-based, which enables flexible deployment in physical transport networks and the cloud. Also, it provides active testing that validates whether a service is properly operational.

Service providers are increasingly seeking to differentiate themselves by looking beyond offering basic connectivity and focusing on the quality assurance of their services. The alliance with Netrounds is likely to help automate that process at scale, giving Juniper an advantage over other suppliers.

Juniper has been on a journey to automate the network to bring significantly greater operational simplicity to service providers. The company believes that automation is indispensable to enable large-scale network providers to transform themselves for the next-generation of networking. The acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Meanwhile, Juniper is seeing solid momentum in Mist Systems and strength in its services organization. It has made changes to the go-to-market structure to better align sales strategies with each of its customer verticals. The company plans to launch several products over the next few quarters, which are expected to strengthen its position across service provider, cloud and enterprise markets.

Juniper’s shares have added 8.5% in the past six months compared with 44.5% growth of the industry. The company has a long-term (three to five years) earnings growth expectation of 8% compared with the industry’s 15%.



Juniper has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), at present.

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader industry are Corning Incorporated (GLW - Free Report) , Vocera Communications, Inc. and Acacia Communications, Inc. , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Corning delivered a trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 39.9%, on average.

Vocera delivered a trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 70%, on average. The company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters.

Acacia pulled off a trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 17%, on average. The company’s earnings topped the consensus estimate in three of the last four quarters.

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