Here is an observation on CSCO by Briefing.com after their conference call this evening. Just wanted to put it in the thread for reference.
<<Cisco Systems (CSCO) 12.07 +0.71: Cisco is adding to its impressive run in the regular session as the stock moves up to 13.14 after the bell. The networking giant beat estimates by $0.02 per share, but the stock did not pop until Cisco provided guidance on the conference call. But it was not all that great. Q1 (Oct) revenue should be "flat to up slightly, in the low single digit range." Q4 revenue came in at $4.83 bln while the Multex consensus is for Q1 revenue of $4.976 bln, so that translates to +3%. With that it mind you could say it's a slight miss, but mostly in-line. The stock moved up on the guidance as the talk during the day had been that Cisco would guide lower, so theno-harm-no-foul guidance moves the stock as investors are relieved. A bit more disappointing was the company's statement that it would not be surprised to see book-to-bill below one in Q1. On the positive side, cash/inv finished the quarter at an impressive $21.5 bln, or almost $3 per share. Also, Cisco has voted to increase its stock repurchase program an additional $5 bln, so the total is now $8 bln. This is more than analysts had been hoping for. Many have been clamoring for Cisco to use some of that warchest on buying back stock... Bigger picture, the telecom service provider market remains sluggish to nobody's surprise, but the outlook is at least not worsening. Management expects the enterprise market to eventually turn higher before the service provider market, but again that's not big news... Bottom line, it's good news the company did not guide lower. Many people were pessimistic heading into the call, so the stock is getting bid up. This should be good news for the overall market tomorrow, but as for Cisco itself, the valuation is still not great at a forward p/e of 25x. -- Robert J. Reid, Briefing.com |
