csco is THE only thing that the street will follow next week. As their guidance goes, the market will follow. If their guidance is very weak, 2001 will be a repeat of 2000. Hopefully, they will simply guide down a bit, widen their range, and caution, and we might be alright. Uncle Al to the rescue???
Cisco has to walk a fine line. They can't totally admit they've lost market share to their competitors, but they can't be dishonest, either. They can blame some of the weakness on carrier spending pull-backs, but if their competitors are guiding for 10% sequential growth in Q1 and 100%-plus for the year, they'll have some explaining to do.
I'm hoping they tweak their optical networking numbers to be as positive as possible. I don't care if they count every electrical component that could even remotely be considered optical. Heck, I don't care if they put CATV in there. Just don't make the sector tank.
Sadly, perception is everything.
Pat |
