Cisco’s Earnings And Guidance Meet Wall Street Forecasts

Cisco Systems (CSCO) has reported financial results and forward guidance that are largely inline with Wall Street forecasts. The technology giant announced earnings per share of $0.99 U.S., which was slightly ahead of the $0.98 U.S. that had been expected. Revenue in the period totaled $14.67 billion U.S., which was also just ahead of the $14.62 billion U.S. forecast on Wall Street. Sales were up 7.6% from a year earlier. In terms of guidance, management called for $4 U.S. to $4.06 U.S. in earnings per share (EPS) and $59 billion U.S. to $60 billion U.S. in revenue for the current fiscal year. Analysts had been looking for earnings of $4.03 U.S. a share and $59.53 billion U.S. in revenue. In what was its fiscal fourth quarter, Cisco generated $7.63 billion U.S. in networking revenue, up 12% from last year. Analysts were looking for $7.34 billion U.S. Cisco’s security revenue for the quarter totaled $1.95 billion U.S., up 9% year-over-year but trailing estimates of $2.11 billion U.S. During the quarter, Cisco introduced switches and routers that can take on artificial intelligence (A.I.) workloads. A.I. infrastructure orders from internet companies during the quarter totaled $800 million U.S. Cisco’s sales pipeline for A.I. infrastructure from enterprises is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the company. CSCO stock is up 19% this year and trading at $70.27 U.S. per share.