The Changing Story At Juniper, A Rare 2022 Tech Winner

Tech as a sector has been a theme of the Razor's Edge from the beginning. Tech as a sector to avoid has been a theme of the Razor's Edge for at least the last few months. While there have been exceptions and nuances to the sector, the market has shown little interest in nuance, as this week's earnings have made clear. Juniper Networks, an old dot com bubble victim and survivor, has been an exception to that rule. A name Akram's Razor wrote up as a long thesis late last year, Juniper is up for the year as it has a few points in its favor: an upgrade cycle, a reasonable valuation, and operational momentum in the Wi-Lan space thanks to a winning acquisition. We discuss the company's prospects and why it is an exception to the tech rule, and also the legacy of tech sector sentiment shifts and a lot more. Topics Covered 2:30 minute mark – The upgrade cycle driving Juniper 7:30 – Why the company has stagnated for so long and why that is changing 13:00 – The Wi-LAN opportunity and kicker 18:00 – How is Juniper handling the backlog 21:30 – Relative performance for Juniper and its risk/reward 27:30 – The dot.com legacy and the recent momentum 31:30 – How the networking and virtualization corner of tech fits into a broader tech bucket 35:30 – Tech shifts in sentiment, and a Microsoft case study