Cisco, EA, NetApp, Facebook: Tech Premarket

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Cisco (CSCO) was one of the big gainers in pre-market trading on Thursday as investors welcomed the company's solid fourth-quarter results, released after market close on Wednesday.

The networking giant also surprised investors by hiking its quarterly dividend by 75% to 14 cents a share.

Cisco brought in revenue of $11.7 billion, up from sales of $11.2 billion in the same period last year, and above analysts' estimate of $11.6 billion.

Excluding items, Cisco earned 47 cents a share, compared to 40 cents a share in the prior year's quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were looking for earnings of 45 cents a share.

Cisco's shares climbed 7.78% to $18.70 before market open. The Juniper (JNPR) and HP (HPQ) rival was also the most active Nasdaq stock on share volume of 4,658,080.

Electronic Arts (EA) was another climber, gaining 12.22% to reach $14.69 on share volume of 420,990. The hike followed a New York Post report that the company is exploring a sale.

The video game giant has been approached by private equity firms KKR and Providence Equity Partners about a potential sale, according to the report.

Neither Electronic Arts nor Providence Equity Partners have not yet responded to TheStreet's request for comment on this story. A spokesperson for KKR said that the company doesn't comment on rumors and speculation.

Storage specialist NetApp (NTAP) also rose before market open, climbing 4.73% to $33.25 after it beat analysts' profit estimate in its second-quarter results on Wednesday and offered robust guidance.

Facebook (FB), however, was a pre-market laggard, falling 2.64% to $20.64. The social networking phenomenon was also one of the most active pre-market Nasdaq stocks on share volume of 1,519,290.

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

Follow @jamesjrogers

>To submit a news tip, send an email to: [e-mail].

Check out our new tech blog, Tech Trends. Follow TheStreet Tech on your wireless devices