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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (61410)	9/23/2002 10:34:01 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 77397

Cisco Says Customer Prospects Harder to Project 9/23/02 2:00 PM Source: Reuters By Peter Henderson SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc., the No. 1 maker of equipment that directs Internet traffic, said on Monday that customers are increasingly having a harder time projecting their near-term business prospects in the weak spending environment. While he did not provide any guidance for Cisco's current quarter, President and Chief Executive John Chambers said CEOs he has spoken with recently said their visibility, or the ability to predict sales prospects, around the world, and particularly in the United States, was getting tougher. "Their visibility...is getting tighter, but I think that actually tightness has increased a little bit over the last several months in terms of what they're seeing," he told investors at a Banc of America securities conference. Cisco's shares fell to $11.87 in after-hours trading, down from Monday's Nasdaq close of $11.96. Chambers added after his speech that it was too early to know whether companies would spend the leftovers from their annual information technology budgets at year-end in one large lump sum. "If CEOs think things are going to pick up in the first quarter of next year, they'll spend in December," he said. "If they feel like business is going to tighten in the first quarter of next year, they are probably going to be more conservative. And I think that is too early to call." Michael Palazzi, head of Nasdaq trading for SG Cowen, said late-afternoon deterioration in the Nasdaq market was probably tied to the negative tone by several executives at the conference and worries that Chambers would echo that tone. Several networking and telecom equipment companies have recently lowered their financial outlooks or cut jobs, including Lucent Technologies Inc., Canada's Nortel Networks Corp. and JDS Uniphase Corp. , and smaller players like Ciena Corp. The Nasdaq Composite Market closed off almost 3 percent, while Cisco ended down 12 cents, or 1 percent, at $11.96 in Nasdaq composite trading. The American Stock Exchange Network Index finished down 3.7 percent and the Standard & Poor's Communications Equipment Index closed off 3.5 percent. Chambers said he would not give any guidance for the San Jose, California-based company's fiscal first quarter, which ends Oct. 26. "For those of you who might be looking for any comments on the quarter, I'm not going to make any comments relative to the current quarter we're in," he said. "Our policy is that we don't comment on the quarter during the quarter." "If there would be something that dramatically changed, then we would obviously deal with it," he added. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call are expecting Cisco to post first-quarter earnings, before one-time items, of 13 cents a share and revenue of $4.88 billion. Last month, Cisco said it expects first-quarter revenue to be unchanged or slightly higher compared with the fourth quarter's $4.8 billion. Cisco's order backlog fell 30 percent over the past year, according to a filing last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A lower backlog, which includes orders for products to be shipped, can be an indicator of slowing demand, some analysts said. Cisco said last week that a lower backlog is not necessarily a good indicator of future sales. It added it has focused on cutting product delivery lead time and improving customer satisfaction, steps that lead to lower backlog figures. (Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Chicago and Chelsea Emery in New York)

To: RetiredNow who wrote (61410)	9/24/2002 11:16:12 AM
From: SouthFloridaGuy	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 77397

Mindmeld, I am close to being bullish on Cisco. My optimal buy price is sub $8.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (61410)	9/24/2002 11:24:41 AM
From: Tom D	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 77397

Mindmeld, what do you think of HSGFX? finance.yahoo.com HSGFX is returning about 20% per year over the last two years. It is run by John Hussman, an adjunct assistant professor of economics and international finance at the University of Michigan. His other job is running Hussman Econometrics Advisors, where he manages money for individuals and institutions. His website contains a wealth of information, including his real-time comments (occurring at least weekly) regarding the risk-return ratio for market conditions over the last two years. It may give some insight into how the fund might perform in bullish markets. hussman.net I've got my financial advisor at SSB looking into this, but would appreciate any opinion you might have about it. Thanks, Tom