JHR,
From a quick read of the article Steve posted to Uncle Frank (#29102), this really does not look bad to me:
"...
Net income in the period ended Oct. 30 will fall to an
estimated 10 cents to 14 cents a share from 16 cents in the year-
earlier quarter. Excluding acquisition expenses, profit is
expected to rise to 23 cents from 17 cents, according to analysts
polled by First Call Corp. Cisco has said charges will total as
much as 13 cents. Sales are forecast to increase 47 percent to
$3.8 billion.
Demand from phone, wireless and cable companies for Internet
services and faster computer-networking equipment is driving
sales growth. Sales from these telecommunications service
providers have been rising more than twice as fast as sales to
corporations, government agencies and educational institutions.
''The service provider side is going to be very strong,''
said Patrick Houghton, an analyst at Sutro & Co. who rates Cisco
a ''buy.''
The expected earnings estimates, as you point out, sure do not look to me as the thing that will drive the price of CSCO's stock. Sales are up 47%. It is only due to acquisitions, investments in CSCO's future, that the earnings are going to be down. Basically, things look good to me.
Here's the URL for Steve's posting again with the entire Bloomberg article:
Message 11836270
Lynn
P.S. I notice this got posted twice so I erased the first to show up on the thread. |
