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

To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (63901)	5/7/2003 9:39:22 PM
From: Techplayer	Respond to of 77400

The world is in fact going to end. Get used to it. :)

To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (63901)	5/8/2003 3:52:36 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 77400

Chambers does a Greenspan Cisco CEO a Tough Read for Investors Wednesday May 7, 4:42 pm ET By Ben Klayman CHICAGO (Reuters) - John Chambers, the chief of networking gear maker Cisco Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:CSCO - News), has had to tone down his optimism amid the telecom and Internet crash, which has made his financial forecasts harder to read. Where Chambers once correctly predicted annual 30 percent to 50 percent growth for Cisco, now he couches his statements in cautious language. That left analysts reading his tea leaves on Wednesday, the day after the No. 1 maker of equipment for directing Internet traffic posted its second-best ever quarterly net profit. Chambers said on Tuesday sales would likely not rise in the current quarter, the company's fiscal fourth, from the third quarter's $4.62 billion, leaving room for an investor to be an optimist or a pessimist. "This is not going to change anybody's thesis," said an analyst who asked not to be identified. "If you hate the stock, you're still going to hate it. If you love it, you're going to love it." Some worried the prediction meant spending in the information technology market was not improving, and Cisco's stock fell in heavy trading on Wednesday. Others pointed to hints that companies are beginning to spend again. Chambers said that while February and March sales were below what Cisco had hoped, April was stronger. When pressed by analysts, he said his bias on fourth-quarter sales was toward growth. He also said he was "cautiously optimistic" about outside factors, but that it was too early to call the April strength a sustainable trend. In other words, investors need to read Chambers' body language. "You do need to read between the lines, but nevertheless he does try to telegraph some of his sentiments in his commentary," said Blaylock & Partners analyst Gabe Lowy. Cisco's wide base of corporate customers makes it a key benchmark for the health of U.S. corporations, meaning its forecasts can drive the markets up or down by itself. The company derives about 80 percent of its sales from corporate customers and the rest from the ailing telecom sector. In fact, Cisco's news was credited with a broad decline in the technology market on Wednesday and Cisco's shares fell 42 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $15.48 on the Nasdaq. In a telephone interview late Tuesday, after the company's results were announced, Chambers suggested his forecasts are conservative. He said that Cisco had provided forecasts of flat to lower revenue the past two quarters and now it was merely flat. He also said previously he had been pessimistic about outside factors. "What we tried to do is play it right down the middle of the fairway and tell people, 'Here are the positives and here are the concerns,"' he told Reuters.