Cisco beats earnings and revenue estimates, boosts full-year guidance

Cisco reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results on Wednesday and lifted its forecast for the full year. Shares of the computer networking company initially jumped in extended trading before paring most of their gains.

Here’s how the company did:

• Earnings: 88 cents per share, adjusted, vs. 86 cents per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
• Revenue: $13.59 billion vs. $13.43 billion as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.

Cisco’s total revenue grew 7% year over year in the quarter, which ended Jan. 28, according to a statement. Net income fell about 7% to $2.77 billion.

Some components that go in Cisco’s hardware products remain constraints, but the company did see an improvement across the board, CEO Chuck Robbins said on a conference call with analysts.

“Based on the sequentials that we saw, demand remains stable,” he said, although he added some sales cycles are longer than usual.

Cisco’s public sector business performed more strongly than it has historically, while in the service provider category, some customers are adjusting to the better delivery of the company’s products into their environments, Robbins said.

The company called for fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings of 96 cents to 98 cents per share and 11% to 13% revenue growth. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had been looking for adjusted earnings per share of 89 cents and revenue of $13.58 billion, which implies almost 6% growth.

Cisco lifted its guidance for the 2023 fiscal year, and now expects $3.73 to $3.78 in adjusted earnings per share and 9% to 10.5% revenue growth. Both numbers are well ahead of analysts’ estimates.

But Cisco said its backlog increased year over year. The backlog for both hardware and software is still considerably higher than usual for Cisco because of limited supply availability, said Scott Herren, Cisco’s finance chief.

“We continue to have very low order cancellation rates, which remain below pre-pandemic levels,” Herren said.

Logistics costs have come down somewhat, he said.

In the fiscal second quarter Cisco’s largest business segment, Secure, Agile Networks, featuring networking switches for data centers, posted $6.75 billion in revenue. That was up 14% and more than the $6.52 billion consensus among analysts polled by StreetAccount.

The Internet for the Future unit, which includes routed optical networking hardware, contributed $1.31 billion, down 1% and just below the $1.32 billion StreetAccount consensus.

Revenue from Cisco’s Collaboration division containing Webex fell by 10% to $958 million, falling short of StreetAccount’s $1.06 billion consensus.

In the quarter, Cisco announced updates to its AppDynamics cloud software for application monitoring and disclosed a restructuring plan that includes changes to its real estate portfolio.

Notwithstanding the after-hours move, Cisco shares have inched about 2% higher, while the S&P 500 index is up 8% in the same time period.

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