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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (7042)	9/3/2003 11:10:53 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Cisco CEO Says August Orders Were Better Than Expected Wednesday September 3, 10:36 am ET By Tom Becker NEW YORK -- Cisco Systems Inc.'s chief executive said August orders were better than expected, but warned that investors shouldn't make too much of the news. "August is usually a very soft month for us but August was a little bit above our expectations," said Cisco President and CEO John T. Chambers, during his keynote address Wednesday at SG Cowen's fall technology conference in Boston. " While the first month [of the quarter] was a little better than expected, I wouldn't get too excited about it. It's too early to tell if that's sustainable or not." Mr. Chambers said he continues to see signs of a recovery in technology- related industries, particularly telecommunications equipment. He said the first real indication of a recovery will come when small- and medium-sized companies experience a sustained increase in business in the U.S. Mr. Chambers said he believes the second step will be a recovery in specific industries, most likely retail and finance, with others such as the airline industry further off. "We saw a good start in [Cisco's fiscal] fourth quarter," he said. "I think the question is not has the technology industry started to turn up but how sustainable is this momentum." Mr. Chambers said a recent trip to Japan convinced him that Japanese government and business leaders are more confident than they have been in a decade, which is another good sign of a market recovery. The CEO characterized the global technology environment as "cautiously optimistic" of a recovery. Cisco continues to try and best position itself for the recovery. The company issued 141 million stock options to employees priced at $19.59 on Tuesday, changing its policy of issuing stock options to once a year from twice a year at the request of employees. Mr. Chambers said the company also will continue to use its strong cash position to buy back Cisco shares. The telecommunications-equipment maker has roughly $21 billion in cash. Cisco also will continue to seek acquisitions, he said. The CEO also provided an update on Cisco's effort to break into six advanced technologies and turn at least some of them into billion-dollar businesses. As reported, Cisco is targeting IP telephony, security, wireless, storage networking, optical and networked home technologies. The company's bread and butter has traditionally been the routers and switch market. Cisco is also trying to increase its share of the service provider market. "We are pleased with the progress of all six advanced technologies," Mr. Chambers said. "All six are at levels we thought they'd be. It's lumpy but we're beginning to see traction across the board. I wouldn't count any of them out in terms of getting to a billion dollars for Cisco." Cisco's optical business had been the slowest of the six but increased 40% sequentially in Cisco's fiscal fourth-quarter, Mr. Chambers said.