Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, August 14, 2020

Article Excerpt

CISCO SYSTEMS INC., $42.50, Nasdaq symbol CSCO, is a buy. Through the stock, investors tap a global producer of hardware and software that links and manages computer networks. The stock dropped 11% this week as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt its supply chains and prompt businesses to postpone new spending. In its fiscal 2020 fourth quarter, ended July 25, 2020, Cisco’s revenue declined 9.5%, to $12.15 billion from $13.43 billion a year earlier. Even so, that beat its consensus forecast of $12.09 billion. Overall earnings in the quarter fell 5.4%, to $3.39 billion from $3.59 billion. The company spent $2.6 billion on share repurchases in fiscal 2020; as a result, earnings per share declined at a slower rate of 3.6%, to $0.80 from $0.83. Those figures exclude costs to integrate recent acquisitions and other unusual items. On that basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.74 a share. Cisco now expects its revenue in the current quarter (ending October 31, 2020) to decline…