Cisco sees recovery continue in third quarter, exceeds analyst estimates

Cisco sees recovery continue in 3Q

NEW YORK — Cisco said Wednesday that its net income for the latest quarter rose 63 percent from last year, as the economic recovery continued to give customers the confidence to spend on big-ticket networking gear.

“We witnessed a return to strong balanced growth across geographies, products and customer segments that we haven’t seen since before the global economic challenges began,” CEO John Chamber said in a statement.

Cisco Systems Inc. said it earned $2.2 billion, or 37 cents per share, in the fiscal third quarter that ended May 1. That’s up from $1.3 billion, or 23 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding one-time charges and the cost of stock-based compensation, the world’s biggest maker of computer networking equipment earned 42 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected 39 cents per share. Cisco routinely exceeds those estimates.

Revenue rose 27 percent to $10.4 billion, from $8.2 billion. That topped Cisco’s own forecast of $10 billion to $10.3 billion. Cisco’s revenue has now recovered to the level of late 2008, when the economic downturn started in earnest. Cisco saw a steep drop in sales after that.

Cisco shares fell 17 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $26.57 in extended trading, after the release of the results.