Cisco slips amid speculation of poor earnings
Reuters
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 22 (Reuters) - Shares of Cisco Systems Inc. <CSCO.O> fell 3.8 percent on Friday, with much of the decline coming in the last hour of trading, amid speculation the No. 1 maker of data networking equipment would miss analyst forecasts for its first quarter.
Television station CNBC shortly before market close reported that there was speculation the San Jose, Calif.-based company would fall short of the 23 cents a share analysts were expecting.
At least one analyst was surprised by the speculation.
"It would certainly be a surprise given the time of the year and what they said in their last earnings (conference) call" with analysts, said Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst at CIBC World Markets.
The company is scheduled to report fiscal first-quarter earnings on Nov. 9 after the close of regular U.S. trading.
"Our guidance remains exactly the same," said Cisco spokesman Doug Wills, declining to comment further.
Cisco stock fell 2 5/8 to 66 9/16 in trading of 25.6 million shares, making it the third most actively traded issue on the Nasdaq.
Cisco reported fourth-quarter net income $635 million, or 18 cents a share, an increase of 28 percent from the $493 million, or 15 cents, it had in the year-ago period.
Analysts said after Cisco's last earnings report that its strong fourth-quarter results boosted confidence that Cisco won't be hurt going into Y2K. |
