Cisco earnings up 4 per cent, beating estimates

NEW YORK: Cisco Systems Inc reported a 4 percent increase in quarterly profit on Tuesday, beating analysts' expectations by a penny per share.

The world's largest maker of computer networking gear said it earned $2.01 billion, or 33 cents per share, in the three months ended July 25, its fiscal fourth quarter. In the same period last year, Cisco earned $1.93 billion, or 31 cents per share.

Sales rose 10 percent to $10.4 billion. Excluding one-time items, earnings were 40 cents per share. Analysts had expected Cisco to report earnings of 39 cents per share on $10.3 billion in revenue, according to a Thomson Financial poll.

Analysts and investors had been expecting that Cisco's results would show signs of the weak U.S. economy, but there was little evidence of that ahead of a conference call in which executives were scheduled to discuss prospects in the new fiscal year.

Chief Financial Officer Frank Calderoni said the results, coming in ``a quarter of somewhat uncertain macroeconomic conditions,'' demonstrated the strength of the company's business model.

In the full fiscal year, Cisco's earnings were $8.1 billion, or $1.31 per share, on sales of $39.5 billion. In the previous fiscal year, net income was $7.3 billion on revenue of $34.9 billion.