Cisco: Still Marching To Its Own Beat

Moving Forward

Cisco expects second-quarter earnings between 47 cents a share and 48 cents per share. The company also expects revenue to grow as high as 5.5% if it reaches the high end of its range of $12.1 billion. As has been the pattern for most of the year, the company has chosen to guide conservatively.

On the other hand, Cisco now has a streak of seven consecutive quarters where it beat earnings forecasts. Q2 won't be any different -- particularly since the market is expecting a rebound in enterprise spending, which has prompted analysts to upgrade the stock to $25.

Likewise, Cisco's management deserves more credit than they have received. Although the company has gotten more than its share of criticism for its inability to grow, management continues to ignore all of the noise and has focused solely on execution.

As such, it should be viewed as an encouraging sign that the company is willing to leave no stone unturned to find growth opportunities -- regardless of how much it cost. Investors would be wise to add shares at current levels as the stock has a good opportunity to trade in the $25 to $30 range during the next 12 months.

At the time of publication the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned.

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This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.

Richard Saintvilus is a private investor with an information technology and engineering background and has been investing and trading for over 15 years. He employs conservative strategies in assessing equities and appraising value while minimizing downside risk. His decisions are based in part on management, growth prospects, return on equity and price-to-earnings as well as macroeconomic factors. He is an investor who seeks opportunities whether on the long or short side and believes in changing positions as information changes.

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