Better Buy: Arista Networks vs. Juniper Networks
As Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) and Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) have been expanding into the same computer network infrastructure segments, they are becoming direct competitors across their portfolios. Both network vendors are also facing challenges in the cloud data center market. But despite its higher valuation, one of them is a better buy for long-term investors.
Juniper started its business a couple of decades ago selling high-end routers -- network devices that forward data packets between computer networks -- to service providers, mostly. The company expanded into the campus market, which requires less-performant network devices to connect end users and local networks together. With its cybersecurity offering and its acquisition of the wireless vendor Mist Systems in April, Juniper's portfolio now covers pretty much the whole network infrastructure spectrum.
But with the explosive growth of cloud computing, Juniper met some challenges. Cloud vendors have been migrating from Juniper's legacy feature-rich MX routers to the new PTX routers that better address cloud titans' needs in terms of flexibility and performance. These new routers command lower average selling prices, though.
Source Fool.com
