Cisco's Earnings Surpass Estimates

Cisco CSCO delivered a stronger-than-expected quarter, soothing concerns that the tech bellwether would show signs of deterioration amid a slowing economy.

The San Jose, Calif., networking giant said it had an adjusted fiscal third-quarter profit of $2.3 billion, or 38 cents a share, up 9.5% from a year ago and ahead of the Thomson Reuters average estimate by 2 cents. Revenue came in at $9.8 billion for the quarter, slightly above Wall Street's estimate of $9.75 billion.

Shares of Cisco rose 3% in extended trading Tuesday.

Traders had been on edge after CEO John Chambers reduced expectations for revenue in the fiscal third quarter. On the company's last conference call, Chambers cut Cisco's fiscal third-quarter guidance to 10% growth, down from the 15% previously expected. At the time, he said the company's long-term annual growth rate would be somewhere between 12% and 17%.

During a presentation a month later, Chambers said he was "even more comfortable ... that our long-term growth will be in the 12% to 17% range."

Cisco's earnings beat echoes better-than-expected results of other key tech names such as Intel INTC, Apple AAPL, Google GOOG, IBM IBM and eBay EBAY.

Networkers haven't been as lucky, though. Recently, JDSU JDSU missed top-line expectations for its fiscal third quarter and delivered weak guidance for the next quarter, while Alcatel-Lucent ALU notched a fifth straight quarterly shortfall, negatively affected by the euro-dollar exchange rate and lower capital spending by its customers.