More Earnings Previews: Akamai, Juniper, Infinera

Over the next day and a half, three more of the usual early reporters from telecom and internet infrastructure will report earnings:  Akamai, Juniper, and Infinera.  Expectations this quarter seem fairly balanced as a whole across the sector: cautious, but without a sense of impending doom.  Analysts seem mostly in synch with the guidance they’ve been given.  Here’s a quick preview:

Akamai: Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings) had a fantastic second quarter.  They have been busy transforming their approach from the 800lb CDN gorilla into a 800lb cloud-based user experience optimization gorilla.  Sounds like marketing sleight of hand, but they’ve been making headway where it counts.  Analysts agree with guidance, coming in with revenues and adjusted EPS around $338M and $0.41, respectively.

$ in millions	Q3/11	Q4/11	Q1/12	Q2/12	Q3/12 (guidance)
Revenue	281.9	323.4	319.4	331.3	332-342
COS	93.3	102.5	102.6	107.5
SG&A+R&D	118.8	132.8	140.4	139.4
Gross Margin %	66.9%	68.3%	67.8%	67.6%	67-68%
Adj.  EPS	0.34	0.45	0.41	0.43	0.40-0.42

Juniper: The router specialist Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR, news, filings) also had a very good Q2, but was somewhat cautious when looking ahead toward Q3.  The market seems to agree, as they’re splitting guidance mostly down the middle, with revenues expected at $1.06B and earnings per share of $0.17:

$ in millions	Q2/11	Q3/11	Q4/11	Q1/12	Q2/12	Q3/12 (guidance)
Revenue	1120.5	1105.8	1120.8	1032.5	1073.8	1040-1075
Non-GAAP EPS	0.31	0.28	0.28	0.16	0.19	0.15-0.18
Non-GAAP Operating Margin %	21.6%	20.0%	18.6%	12.0%	15%	13-14%

Infinera: With its DTN-X 500G super-channel PICs now live, Infinera (NASDAQ:INFN, news, filings) is looking for a little third quarter revival.  In their second quarter call, they narrowed projections toward the lower end of their previous guidance due to macroeconomic .  Analysts aren’t making any wild revenue projections, projecting a number right near the midpoint of guidance, which for this sector never happens of course.  But they are expecting a non-GAAP EPS toward the weaker end of the scale, i.e. a loss of $0.12.  Hard to say, but it generally doesn’t pay to bet on quick revenue ramps from new products even during great economies, which this is not.

$ in millions	Q3/11	Q4/11	Q1/12	Q2/12	Q3/12(Guidance)
Revenue	104	112.0	104.7	93.5	Q3: 106-115
Non-GAAP EPS	(0.09)	(0.06)	(0.10)	(0.16)	(0.08)-(0.14)
Non-GAAP Gross Margin %	41%	42%	40%	37%	37-39%

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