Cisco Systems Q3 Results Beat Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Silicon Valley giant Cisco Systems Inc., (CSCO) Wednesday reported a profit and revenues for the third quarter that trumped Wall Street analysts estimates.

The San Jose, California-based networking-equipment maker reported third-quarter profit of $3.04 billion or $0.69 per share, compared to last year's profit of $2.69 billion or $0.56 per share.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.78 per share, up from $0.66 per share last year. On average, 26 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.77 per share for the quarter.

Revenues for the quarter grew 6 percent to $12.96 from $12.46 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $12.89 billion for the quarter.

"Our strong performance in the quarter was across the business, reflecting our customers' confidence in our strategy, business model and market-leading portfolio," said CEO Chuck Robbins. "Technology is at the heart of our customers' strategies and we are building the technology to help them achieve their business objectives."

Looking forward to the fourth quarter, Cisco expects adjusted earnings of $0.80 to $0.82 per share with revenue growth of 4.5 to 6.5 percent. Analysts currently expect earnings of $0.81 per share, with revenue growth of 3.50 percent.

CSCO closed Wednesday's trading at $52.44, up $0.42 or 0.81%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $1.40 or 2.67% in the after-hours trade.