Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, February 16, 2018

Article Excerpt

CISCO SYSTEMS INC., $44.33, Nasdaq symbol CSCO, is a leading maker of hardware and software for linking and managing computer networks. The stock rose 5% this week after the company reported better-than-expected results. In its fiscal 2018 second quarter, ended January 27, 2018, Cisco’s earnings rose 10.0%, to $3.15 billion from $2.86 billion a year earlier. During the quarter, the company spent $4.0 billion on share repurchases; as a result, earnings per share moved up 10.5%, to $0.63 from $0.57, on fewer shares outstanding. Those figures exclude costs to integrate recent acquisitions, one-time charges related to the new U.S. tax laws and other unusual items. On that basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.59. Revenue in the quarter improved 2.7%, to $11.89 billion from $11.58 billion. That also beat the consensus forecast of $11.82 billion. In response to slowing demand for the company’s hardware—traditional routers and switches—Cisco continues to expand into faster-growing fields such as software for managing network security, conferencing and…