Stock Update: Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)

[Reuters] Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) forecast weaker-than-expected profit and revenue for the current quarter as telecom operators, its main customers, postpone spending until the dust settles on several big mergers."We assume the carrier spending will remain constrained for several quarters and we are streamlining our business with ... operating expense reductions," Juniper's Chief Executive Shaygan Kheradpir said on a post-earnings call.Stock PerformanceTaking a look at the company’s recent performance, Juniper Networks, Inc (JNPR) reported Second quarter earnings for fiscal 2014 on July 22^nd. The company reported actual earnings per share of $0.40 against the consensus Street estimate of $0.38. This represents year over year growth of 27.50%. Juniper Networks, Inc posted revenue of $1.23billion against estimates of $1.22billion.Juniper Networks, Inc (JNPR) is currently valued at $8.57 billion and closed the last trading session at $19.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.96 and a 200-day moving average of $24.16.

Is this a Buying Opportunity?There are currently thirty three analysts that we track that cover the stock. Of those thirty three, thirteen have a Buy rating, on has strong buy rating, seventeen have a hold rating and two have sell rating. On a consensus basis this yields a score of 2.39 and a Hold. The combined price objective of these covering analysts is $26.98, which represents a 24.57% upside difference to the last closing price.The most recent analyst activity consisted of BarclaysLower Price Target with overweight stance on the company. Barclays has a price target of $29.00 which represents an upside of 30.51% from the last closing price. On the date of the report, the stock closed at $22.22.Another research firm weighing in recently was Zacks who downgraded with Underperform stance on the stock. On August 22^nd Zacks upgraded their price target on the stock at $22.0. On the day of the report, JNPRshares closed at $24.05.Company ProfileJuniper Networks, Inc. designs, develops, and sells products and services for high-performance networks worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Platform Systems Division and Software Solutions Division. The Platform Systems Division segment offers scalable routing and switching products that are used in service provider, enterprise, and public sector networks to control and direct network traffic between data centers, core, edge, aggregation, campus, wide area networks, and consumer and business devices. Its routing products and services include the ACX, E, M, MX, PTX, and T series product families; and switching products and services primarily consist of the EX series and wireless local area network solutions, as well as the QFabric systems.