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If Cisco(CSCO Quote) once showed how easy it was to pick stocks, now it's showing how tough a job that really is.

The networking titan posted fiscal first-quarter earnings that topped analysts' expectations on Monday night, but it was cheered by a shrinking fan club in the fund world. And though Monday's numbers were slightly better than expected, they aren't going to extricate Cisco from the tight spot it and many other former tech highfliers find themselves in.

The rock-and-a-hard place story is that Cisco isn't growing fast enough to suit some growth managers' tastes, and it isn't cheap enough to interest most value managers. In fact, both growth and value managers were selling the stock this year through Sept. 30, just prior to its recent bounce.

"Cisco's fundamentals weakened so fast that managers across the board are wary of it," says Russ Kinnel, director of fund analysis at Chicago-based Morningstar. ...