Out Fox The $treet

Typical of the quarterly reports over the last couple of years,  Riverbed Technology  ( NASDAQ: RVBD     )   easily surpassed earnings estimates. The concerning part for investors are that the WAN optimization specialists failed to meet revenue numbers. On top of that, the primary Steelhead product had virtually flat growth from the prior year. The application performance company is still busy wrapping up the integration of the OPNET acquisition from the end of last year. So far the deal isn't generating the revenue synergies expected, but that could be due to a staggering slowdown in government spending. The company obtains a large portion of revenue especially during the third quarter of the year so a rebound in government spending could benefit Riverbed more than most. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long RVBD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Even with Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW ) trading down substantially after reporting weak earnings the stock is still overvalued. The stock was one of the hottest IPOs in 2012 and has always traded at lofty market multiples. Palo Alto Networks is a leading supplier of next generation network security for enterprises, service providers, and government entities to secure their networks. The company forecast up to 45% revenue growth in the more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.

The stock of Riverbed Technology (RVBD) had been absolutely decimated over the last six months as the company reported back on the Q411 report in January that it would be going through the growing pains of a massive new product cycle. The stock dropped from $30 to $24 in January before rebounding back to $29 before falling off the cliff when Q112 results again disappointed. (See How Did A $5M Revenue Cut Turn Into A $1.35B Market Value Drop? article.) The company though remained resolute that the new product cycle and more importantly the important WAN Optimization market remained strong. After the close on Tuesday, the company reported Q212 numbers that blew past analyst estimates, sending the stock up over 20% after hours back above $18. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long RVBD and CSCO. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Palo Alto Networks (PANW) went public on Friday trading above the IPO price of $42. The company originally filed for a range of $34 to $37. See S-1 here. The initial trade was above $55 for a 30% gain. Palo Alto Networks pioneered the next generation of network security with an innovative platform that allows enterprises and service providers to secure their network and safely enable the increasingly complex and rapidly growing number of applications running on their networks. According to Gartner the company has done a good job of marrying enterprise firewall and intrusion prevention system technologies into a single, tightly integrated solution. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long CSCO. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.

After the close on Thursday, networking equipment stocks Juniper Networks (JNPR) and Riverbed Technology (RVBD) reported earnings that sent both stocks lower on Friday. One company missed estimates and focused on issues with carrier spending and the European debt crisis. The other exceeded estimates and talked about a product transition in Q1 leading to a major new product cycle. So which stock was down 18% and which one was down 3% at the close on Friday? That might surprise most investors who read the earnings reports and listened to the conference calls. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long RVBD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.