Rechtliches Nachspiel für Cisco ???? - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[weehaa]

Da ja heute -gegen das Regelwerk der Nasdaq- bereits vor
Börsenstart "sehr gute Zahlen" von Cisco bekanntgegeben worden sind, nun Nachbörslich die Geschichte aber ganz
anders aussieht, sollte diese Frechheit nicht ohne rechtliche Folgen bleiben meine ich.

[aktienelch]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:CSCO - news) on Wednesday posted lower fiscal second-quarter earnings due to the communications spending slowdown that were still almost twice what analysts had expected, but shares fell as the company sounded a cautious note on the current quarter.
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Cisco said it sees fiscal third-quarter revenues flat to rising in the ``low single-digit`` range from the second quarter, and added that it was difficult to give a clear picture on the company`s outlook, given the uncertain economic climate.

Shares of Cisco, the largest maker of equipment that powers the Internet, fell in after-hours trade to $17.25, after initially rising to $19.40 right after the earnings were released. The share had closed up 11 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $18.61 in regular Nasdaq trade.

While Chief Executive John Chambers noted on a conference call that he would like to be more confident of economic growth resuming in the next several quarters, ``In our opinion, no one is really sure,`` he said.

Chambers also said that revenues from service providers in both Europe and the United States declined in the second quarter from the first period, and that the enterprise business in the United States ``continues to be mixed.``

The earnings came after Cisco said earlier in the day it would top Wall Street`s expectations -- a surprise disclosure made because of an inadvertent e-mail sent to a large number of employees telling of the good quarter and order bookings for products exceeding internal goals.

San Jose, California-based Cisco said earnings before special items fell to $664 million, or 9 cents a share, in the quarter ended Jan. 26, from $1.3 billion, or 18 cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected Cisco to earn 5 cents a share, with a range of 5 cents to 7 cents, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

Analysts reacted positively to the results, but warned that it did not mean that Cisco would see a return to its previous lightning growth rates.

The results doubled from the fiscal first quarter, when Cisco earned $332 million, or 4 cents a share.

Revenues in the quarter ended Jan. 26 fell 29 percent to $4.8 billion from an all-time quarterly high of $6.75 billion in the same period the previous year. Analysts had expected $4.55 billion, First Call said.

``In almost every area of our business we`ve seen positive

evidence of our strategy working, from market share gains and cash generation to inventory turns and gross margin improvements,`` Chambers said in a statement.

While the results indicate a bottoming out is at hand in Cisco`s main corporate business, a return to the old days of 50 percent growth was not at hand, said Henry Asher, president of the North Star Group, a New York money manager that owns Cisco shares.

``The mistake would be to assume this means that they`re on the way back to where they were in terms of growth,`` he said.

Cisco is the dominant supplier for large corporations, while its telecom business is much weaker, analysts said. Since the beginning of last year, Cisco shares have outperformed their competitors in the American Stock Exchange Networking Index (.NWX) by about 34 percent.

It is a different story, however, for suppliers that rely heavily on the telecom sector, where carriers like Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE:Q - news) and Sprint Corp. (NYSE:FON - news) are still cutting spending.

Optical networking company Ciena Corp. (NasdaqNM:CIEN - news) on Tuesday signaled the telecom sector remained weak after it said it would post a wider-than-expected fiscal first-quarter loss. Cisco rival Juniper Networks Inc. (NasdaqNM:JNPR - news) , which relies heavily on the telecommunications sector, posted a fourth-quarter loss last month and forecast essentially flat revenues for the current quarter given weak spending.

Cisco said last November that second-quarter sales would be flat to up in the single-digit percentage point range from the $4.45 billion posted in the first quarter.

Actual net income in the second quarter was $660 million, or 9 cents a share, down from $874 million, or 12 cents a share, in the same period the previous year. The results include the effects of acquisition charges, payroll tax on stock option exercises, net gains or losses on investments, and an excess inventory benefit.

Cisco`s cash and short term investments rose to $21 billion at the end of the latest quarter from $19.1 billion at the end of the fiscal first quarter, executives said.

``In today`s market, simply put, cash is king,`` Chambers said.

(Additional reporting by Duncan Martell in San Francisco)