Cisco wows Wall Street

[notiCIas]

Cisco wows Wall Street

The top maker of Internet gear puts up sales and earnings that top forecasts; stock jumps in after-hours trading.

By Jessica Seid, CNNMoney.com staff writer
May 9, 2006: 5:17 PM EDT


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Cisco posted solid numbers for the latest quarter Tuesday and Wall Street sat up and took notice.

The No. 1 maker of Internet gear reported earnings of 29 cents a share excluding items for its fiscal third quarter ended last month, up from 23 cents a year earlier. Sales jumped 18 percent to $7.3 billion.

Both numbers topped average forecasts from industry analysts and the news sent Cisco stock, one of this year's hottest, on a tear.

Cisco (Research) jumped about 4 percent in after-hours trading. Before the report the shares were up about 27 percent so far this year.

"The revenue number was a nice beat, the gross margin number was fairly healthy also," said Inder Singh, an analyst with Prudential Equity Group. Gross margin is a key measure of profitability.

He said Cisco's $6.9 billion purchase of cable set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta earlier this year also helped boost revenues for the quarter.

"People were skeptical about whether this company can deliver top line growth and it's nice to see the quarter they have put up here, in which they have really delivered," he said.

"Cisco's third quarter was marked by record revenues and strong results in orders and earnings per share," John Chambers, president and CEO, said in a statement, citing strength in U.S. and emerging markets.

In a conference call with analysts, he did note some concern about international growth, however.

Cisco reported net income of $1.4 billion, or 22 cents a share, for the period ended April 29, including a stock-based compensation expense, down slightly from $1.405 billion a year earlier.

Cisco stock had been stuck in a rut since late 2004 while the stocks of other equipment makers rallied.

But this year is a different story. Analysts say the company is benefiting as companies are finally upgrading their corporate networks and buying new equipment.

Router sales increased just 5 percent from a year ago in Cisco's most recent quarter while sales of switches grew about 13 percent.

[Francisco Monjardino]

Boa tarde,

No seguimento da publicação dos resultados de ontem, abaixo deixo o gráfico actualizado para a CISCO Systems (CSCO).


Abraço,