Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Cisco Surges 8% On U.S. Strength And A Steadily Improving Global Economy


Cisco posted third quarter earningsafter the bell on Wednesday, beating estimates and delivering a ninth consecutive quarter of “record” revenues.  Shares in the large networking and communications firm surged more than 8% in post-market trading.
Non-GAAP net income rose 4.7% to $2.7 billion in the third quarter for Cisco, which earned 51 cents per share; Wall Street was expecting an EPS of 49 cents.


Cisco’s revenue grew 5.4% to $12.2 billion, in line with consensus expectations.  John Chambers, Cisco’s CEO noted the company managed to execute “in a slow, but steady economic environment.”  Chambers added, “we are starting to see some good signs in the US and other parts of the world which are encouraging.”
Gross margin, a widely followed figure, remained relatively steady at 61.4%, just 20 basis points below its levels in the year-ago quarter.  Cash from operations came in at $3.1 billion, while Cisco’s cash and cash equivalents stood at a massive $47.4 billion.  Cisco, along with several major tech competitors including Apple AAPL -3.38%Google GOOG +3.26%, and Microsoft MSFT +0.94%, are among the global companies with the largest cash reserves in the world.
Cisco’s stock performance this year has been poor, with shares rallying less than 5% compared to a nearly 12% gain for the Nasdaq, which closed at its highest levels in more than a decade on Wednesday.  Investors appeared pleased with Cisco’s third quarter financial performance, though, as the stock was up 8.1% to $22.93 by 5:02 PM in New York.


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