Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is trading lower as the market digests fresh court scrutiny around the company’s completed Juniper Networks acquisition. A federal judge in San Jose is hearing arguments on whether the U.S. Justice Department improperly approved the antitrust settlement that cleared HPE’s roughly $14 billion purchase of Juniper, reviving uncertainty around whether additional conditions could still be imposed.

Even though the acquisition has been integrated, the court review reintroduces headline risk: a finding that the process was flawed can keep investors cautious about potential follow-on actions, including tighter behavioral commitments or additional divestiture requirements. For HPE, networking has become a larger part of the investment narrative post-Juniper, so any disruption to product strategy, sales execution, or margin expectations in the segment can quickly pressure the stock.

Traders will focus on the judge’s next steps and any signals about whether the settlement could be revisited or strengthened. Investors will also be watching whether legal uncertainty spills into customer decision-making for large networking and AI-infrastructure deployments, and whether HPE’s commentary updates the market on integration progress, competitive dynamics, and the durability of networking profitability as the company absorbs Juniper.