Cisco Beats on Earnings, Outlook Is On Target
Cisco Systems reported quarterly earnings that topped analysts' expectations on Tuesday due to cost cuts and the company's broad product range. The networking-gear maker also issued guidance that was in-line with estimates.
"I'd characterize the last quarter as a very solid quarter in what is clearly a tough market," Chambers said on CNBC, noting that the company's 6-percent revenue growth and earnings growing twice as fast as revenue while many peers struggled.
After the earnings announcement, the company's shares rose more than 1 percent in trading after the closing bell. (Click here to get the latest quotes for Cisco.)
Net income rose 18 percent to $2.1 billion in the fiscal first quarter, or 39 cents per share, from $1.8 billion, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, the company's earnings rose to $2.6 billion, or 48 cents per share, from $2.3 billion, or 43 cents, a share in the year-earlier period.
Revenue increased 6 percent to $11.88 billion from $11.26 billion a year ago.
Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of 6 cents a share on $11.77 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.
For the current quarter, the company expects to earn 47 to 48 cents per share, which is in line with analysts' estimates of 47 cents a share.
Cisco forecasts revenue growth of 3.5 to 5.5 percent in its fiscal second quarter. This projection implies revenue of $11.9 to $12.2 billion and is roughly in-line with the $12.0 billion that analysts had estimated.
Following the release, RBC Capital Markets Analyst Mark Sue said, "Those numbers are not that bad considering it's been a pretty tough environment."
The 2-cent earnings beat shows the company is operating better, Sue told CNBC's "Closing Bell."
"What's more important is whether Cisco can convince investors that it can compete in an environment that's becoming increasingly software centric," the analyst said.
