Cisco’s Earnings Beat Analyst Estimates

Networking heavyweight Cisco reported third quarter financial results that exceeded Wall Street expectations. As a result, the company saw a sharp rise in its stock price.

CNNMoney’s Julianne Pepitone reported, “Overall, Cisco earned $2.7 billion on $12.2 billion in sales for its third fiscal quarter. Both revenue and profits were up about 5% from a year ago and beat Wall Street expectations. The company also reported that it now has $47.7 billion in cash, up $1 billion from the previous quarter.”

Reuters added, “Shares of Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) rose as much as 14 percent on Thursday, a day after the company reported quarterly results and financial targets that were better than Wall Street expected. Cisco shares hit a multiyear high of $24.24 on the Nasdaq after the results and the company’s forecast eased concerns about weak technology spending after many technology rivals had recently given much bleaker financial targets. The last time Cisco’s shares traded above $23 was in November 2010.”

All Things D’s Arik Hesseldahl noted, “CFO Frank Calderoni said the company expects fourth-quarter sales to grow year on year in the range of 4 percent to 7 percent, which works out to about $12.2 billion to $12.5 billion in sales, which is more or less in line with what the Street expects. He said gross margins will be 61 percent to 62 percent. He said he sees per-share earnings to come in between 50 cents and 52 cents versus a consensus view of 51 cents.”

Enterprise Networking Planet’s Sean Michael Kerner observed, “While the vendor’s overall switching business has slipped, Chambers stressed that in the data center, the Nexus switching product line grew by 12 percent. Chambers added that Cisco also saw good customer adoption and growth on its fully converged wired and wireless Catalyst 3850 platform.”