Cisco defies profit estimates

networking equipment, beat profit and sales estimates, defying concerns that delays in network upgrades by phone and cable companies would drag down revenue, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

Fiscal second-quarter net income rose to $2.18 billion, or 40c a share, from $1.52 billion, or 27c, a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Excluding certain items, earnings were 47c in the period ended 28 January. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey had estimated 43c.

According to CRN, Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers said its Q2 numbers are proof that Cisco's lengthy, often-painful restructuring effort has paid off, and that its priorities are now better aligned to how customers are making IT buying decisions.

"We met with over 100 of our top customers ranging from government leaders to service providers, enterprise and partners, and I can say I believe almost without exception we are gaining mindshare and, most of the time, wallet share," Chambers says.

"Cisco was focused on flip cameras and consumer devices,” Sci-Tech Today quotes Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research, as saying.

“Chambers made the promise that networking was going to be a focus for them last year, and it has been. Now margins for switches are returning to what they were three years ago. For investors, that's a great sign."