Cisco Systems Inc. said Tuesday that its earnings rose 18 percent in the latest quarter as large U.S. companies began investing in big-ticket networking gear again.
According to an Associated Press article, orders rose 9 percent from last year, but the federal government and European customers continued to hold back.
“The U.S. has to lead the total globe out of this slowdown, ” said John Chambers, Cisco CEO.
“It’s not going to come from Europe. While we were all hopeful about emerging countries, they just aren’t going to be strong enough, ” he added.
Cisco’s stock closed at $18.04, a $1.19 or 7.1 percent increase, in extended trading Tuesday.
The company made $2.1 billion, or 39 cents per share, in its fiscal first quarter, a rise from last year’s $1.8 billion, or 33 cents per share during the same period.
Cisco earned 48 cents per share if the cost of stock-based compensation and certain other items are excluded.
In that scenario, FactSet said Cisco’s earnings were 2 cents above the average analyst estimate.
According to the AP article, the company achieved revenue of $11.9 billion, a 5.5 percent rise which beat Wall Street estimates.
Sales of its core products such as routers and switches were weak, while some up-and-coming product categories like wireless network equipment and servers for data centers reported good sales numbers.
Cisco’s service segment, which builds networks for companies, rose 12 percent from last year.