It is a fabulous company, with a strong ipr position from which it leverages its hardware. As a result, they have gross margins in the 65% range.
Indeed it is, Frank! Also, what turned me on to this company back in '96 was the employee moral that existed. I spoke with several employees, all of which loved working for the company and spoke about the wonderful future that was in store. IMO, employee moral is one of the most important things in the high tech world because of the traditional high turn over. It is no wonder that Cisco has something like a 4% voluntary attrition rate!
Not only that, but they are investing like mad in their future workers. Cisco Academies have been set up around the country to train future Networking Specialists on how to use Cisco gear. In fact, this past summer Cisco donated about $1 million worth of equipment to my school so we could have a room full of Cisco routers and switches to train Computer Science/Engineering/Information Systems students (of which I am the latter). So when these students go into the networking world upon graduation, they will have been trained on how to use IOS (Cisco's Internetworking Operating System software). A wise investment for them, indeed!
Of course, to top it off you need an above-par management team. I think that Uncle has more personal experience dealing with management, and has vouched for them time and time again.
To concur with FranQ, I think that Cisco should be a core holding (and is in mine!) for a Gorilla hunter's portfolio!
BWDIK,
Justin |
