Technology
Cisco Earnings Challenge: The Turnaround and the Rest of the World
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As the earnings season winds down, the off-calendar quarter-end reports are coming out this week. Among the most important reports this week, if not the most important, is the one from Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) on Wednesday. Investors are generally expecting Cisco’s turnaround to remain underway.
Source: courtesy of Cisco Systems
UPDATED FOR EARNINGS: Cisco earnings beat expectations, but margin contraction remains a concern.
The Thomson Reuters consensus estimates remain unchanged for the fourth quarter at $0.53 earnings per share and $12.14 billion in revenues. Should Cisco hit these estimates, it would indicate a 2.2% decrease in revenue compared to the same quarter last year. Cisco issued guidance was in the previous earnings report that suggests a 1% to 3% lower revenue.
In the previous quarter, Cisco repurchased 90 million in common shares. The networking giant said that it had some $50.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents on its books at the end of last quarter. What remains interesting about Cisco is that its dividend yield of above 3% is still one of the highest yields among tech giants.
Investors will also be paying close attention to Cisco’s gross margin. In its last quarter, Cisco reported that margin decreased to 60.7% from 61.5%.
After the last earnings report, Cisco stock popped up to nearly $24.50. Shares rose to as high as $26.08 in July. Since then, however, Cisco shares have faced resistance at the $26.00 handle. Just under $25.00 is where support has been during the last week or so, and the key 50-day moving average was at $25.06 with a day to go before the formal report.
24/7 Wall St. would note that the formal analyst estimates have not changed much of late, but what has changed is the price target. According to Thomson Reuters, the target was $25.96 over the weekend and late last week, but on Tuesday the consensus price target was $26.03. Cisco’s 52-week trading range is $20.22 to $26.48.
A more formal earnings preview with much more detail will be released on Wednesday morning.
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