Cisco Sinks Despite Meeting Q4 Estimates

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) reported fiscal fourth-quarter financial results after markets closed Wednesday. The networking giant said that it had $0.61 in earnings per share (EPS) and $12.1 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.61 in EPS and $12.07 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $0.63 in EPS and $12.64 billion in revenue.

Deferred revenue totaled $18.5 billion, up 12% from last year, with deferred product revenue up 23%, driven largely by subscription-based and software offerings, and deferred service revenue was up 6%. The portion of product deferred revenue related to recurring software and subscription offers increased 50%.

Revenue by geographic segment was: Americas down 6%, EMEA down 6%, and APJC up 6%. Product revenue performance was led by Wireless and Security which increased 5% and 3%, respectively. NGN Routing and Switching revenue each decreased 9%. Service Provider Video, Data Center, and Collaboration revenue decreased 10%, 4%, and 3%, respectively.

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In terms of the outlook for the fiscal first quarter of 2018, Cisco expects to see EPS in the range of $0.59 to $0.61 and revenues declining 1% to 3% from last year. There are consensus estimates calling for $0.60 in EPS and $12.06 billion in revenue.

On the books, cash and cash equivalents totaled $70.5 billion at the end of the quarter, compared with $65.8 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco, commented:

We had another strong quarter and a transformative year. We made tremendous progress transitioning our business to more software and recurring revenue and delivered on our commitment to accelerate innovation in our core and across the portfolio. The network has never been more critical to business success and we are building the network of the future.

Shares of Cisco closed Wednesday at $32.34, with a consensus analyst price target of $35.94 and a 52-week range of $29.12 to $34.60. Following the release, the stock was down nearly 2% at $31.70 in the after-hours trading session.

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