Cisco's Changeover Will Dominate Tech

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- This recent earnings season hasn't been kind to techs stocks. With several companies reporting subpar quarters and lowered guidance, Cisco (CSCO) continues to stand out. And with each passing quarter, the networking giant continues to make a case for why it is one of the best bargains on the market. And if second-quarter earnings are any indication, more gains are around the corner.

Revenue arrived 5% higher year over year and advanced 2% sequentially. And there were signs that Cisco is still working to transition out of its hardware business. For instance, its core routing and switching businesses, which suffered of late, continue to erode. This is why Cisco has spent a good portion of its $45 billion cash hoard on recent acquisition for Meraki, Cariden and most recently BroadHop.

In many respects, it's working. Although the routing business shed 5% in revenue year over year, it now comprises 1% less of Cisco's overall sales. But that's a good thing in this case since the hardware margins haven't been that great. In the meantime, Cisco's other businesses continue to pick-up the slack. Wireless revenue grew 20% year over year.

This means Cisco is doing better than holding its own against rivals such as Aruba Networks (ARUN) and F5 Networks (FFIV). Likewise, data center revenue surged 65% year over year. The company continues to outperform the likes of Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). But there's some struggles on the security side, which grew by only 1%.

This is the area that is dominated by market leaders Check Point Software (CHKP) and Fortinet (FTNT). But Cisco should be able to turn this around with a few more key acquisitions. Profitability weren't that great this quarter as non-GAAP gross margins arrived lower sequentially and year over year. Quite a bit of this struggle had to do with the product mix. The company made up for it in operating income, which advanced 4%.

All in all, it was an exceptional quarter. Even more impressive, this brings Cisco earnings beat to eight consecutive quarters. And there are no meaningful signs of slowing down. In terms of guidance, the company is projecting 4% to 6% revenue growth for the third quarter. It wasn't as high as the Street would like, but it is consistent with the company's recent performances.

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