Juniper Hit By Options Probe

Juniper Networks became the latest tech company to get hit by the growing stock option scandal, reporting late Thursday that it will have to restate past results and could face delisting from the Nasdaq National Stock Market.

Juniper said its audit committee “has reached a preliminary conclusion that the actual measurement dates for financial accounting purposes of certain stock option grants issued in the past differ from the recorded grant dates of such awards.”

As a result, the company said it will need to restate past financial statements to record additional non-cash charges for past stock-based compensation expense. Juniper said financial statements and all earnings press releases issued by the company after January 1, 2003 should not be relied upon.

Juniper also missed the filing deadline for its quarterly report, which the company said will likely result in a notice of delisting from the Nasdaq.

“Juniper is committed to resolving these issues as expeditiously as possible and to file its Form 10-Q and restated financial statements as soon as practicable following completion of the independent investigation,” the company said.

Juniper shares lost 3% in after-hours trading on the news, on top of a 3.8% loss during the day.

Juniper’s shares weren’t the only ones to get hit by the options backdating scandal late Thursday. Nvidia’s shares fell 9% after the company delayed its full quarterly results after finding option accounting issues.

Stocks posted solid gains Thursday despite early weakness on reports of a major terrorist plot aimed at airlines flying between the U.S. and London that resulted in two dozen arrests.

FileNet rose 4.4% on news that it will be acquired by IBM .

Expedia and UTStarcom gained on their results. Expedia beat estimates, while UTSI narrowed its losses.

Deutsche Telekom , 1-800-Flowers.com , InfoSonics and eCollege.com fell on their results.

ADC gained 10% after conceding the acquisition of Andrew to CommScope .

Salesforce.com climbed 6.5% on a Citigroup upgrade.

The Nasdaq rose 11 to 2071, the S&P 500 climbed 5 to 1271, and the Dow rose 48 to 11,124. Volume declined to 2.33 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.8 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 19-12 on the NYSE, and 17-12 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 58% on the NYSE, and 63% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 59-130 on the NYSE, and 42-228 on the Nasdaq.