Cisco Sales, Profits Top Expectations

Cisco Systems results just posted a few minutes ago, and the highlight is that both sales and profits on a per-share basis are slightly better than expectations.

Cisco reported a 48 cents per-share profit, up 12 percent from this time last year, on sales of $11.9 billion, which were up 6 percent versus last year. Shares rose by more than 6 percent in after-hours trading after the results were reported.

CEO John Chambers was just on CNBC a few minutes ago and said that sales in Europe and to the U.S. federal government continue to be sluggish. He expects improvement in China, Japan and the Asia Pacific region.

He also touched on his favorite policy question: What will Cisco do with its huge pile of $45 billion in cash? Much of it remains stashed away in overseas banks, out of the reach of U.S. taxing authorities. Chambers told CNBC that he’s considering making more investments overseas, and specifically mentioned Canada, saying the government there is more “favorable.”

Here’s Cisco’s original release:

Cisco Reports First Quarter Earnings
SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwire – Nov 13, 2012) – Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO)

Q1 Net Sales: $11.9 billion (increase of 6% year over year)

Q1 Net Income: $2.1 billion GAAP (increase of 18% year over year); $2.6 billion non-GAAP (increase of 11% year over year)

Q1 Earnings per Share: $0.39 GAAP (increase of 18% year over year); $0.48 non-GAAP (increase of 12% year over year)
Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, today reported its first quarter results for the period ended October 27, 2012. Cisco reported first quarter net sales of $11.9 billion, net income on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis of $2.1 billion or $0.39 per share, and non-GAAP net income of $2.6 billion or $0.48 per share.
“We delivered record results this quarter — with revenue growth of 6 percent and strong earnings per share growth — demonstrating our vision and strategy are working,” said John Chambers, chairman and chief executive officer, Cisco. “Our innovation engine, operational discipline and on-going evolution are enabling us to differentiate in the market.”

Chambers continued, “Cisco is at the center of the major market transitions — cloud, mobility, video — and yet we believe the largest market transition lies ahead of us, as the Internet of Everything becomes a reality. Cisco has the unique ability to turn information that will flow across networks into new capabilities and richer experiences. The Internet of Everything will create unprecedented possibilities for businesses, individuals and countries, and Cisco is poised to lead and fully maximize the opportunities of this evolution.”

GAAP Results

Q1 2013 Q1 2012 Vs. Q1 2012
Net Sales $ 11.9 billion $ 11.3 billion 5.5 %
Net Income $ 2.1 billion $ 1.8 billion 17.7 %
Earnings per Share $ 0.39 $ 0.33 18.2 %

Non-GAAP Results

Q1 2013 Q1 2012 Vs. Q1 2012
Net Income $ 2.6 billion $ 2.3 billion 10.6 %
Earnings per Share $ 0.48 $ 0.43 11.6 %

A reconciliation between net income on a GAAP basis and non-GAAP net income is provided in the table on page 5.
Cisco will discuss first quarter results and business outlook on a conference call and webcast at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today. Call information and related charts are available at http://investor.cisco.com.
Cash and Cash Equivalents and Investments
Cash flows from operations were $2.5 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2013, compared with $2.3 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2012, and compared with $3.1 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012.
Cash and cash equivalents and investments were $45.0 billion at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2013, compared with $48.7 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012.
Dividends and Stock Repurchase Program
During the first quarter of fiscal 2013:
The combination of cash used for dividends and common stock repurchases under the stock repurchase program totaled approximately $1.0 billion.
Cisco paid a cash dividend of $0.14 per common share, or $744 million.
Cisco repurchased 15 million shares of common stock under the stock repurchase program at an average price of $16.44 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $253 million. As of October 27, 2012, Cisco had repurchased and retired 3.8 billion shares of Cisco common stock at an average price of $20.34 per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $76.4 billion since the inception of the stock repurchase program. The remaining authorized amount for stock repurchases under this program is approximately $5.6 billion with no termination date.
“Once again, we delivered strong financial performance with continued execution on our long-term strategy of growing profits faster than revenue and driving long-term value to our shareholders,” stated Frank Calderoni, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Cisco. “We remain confident in our financial strategy and in our ability to consistently execute moving forward.”
Select Global Business Highlights
Cisco announced the completion of its acquisition of NDS Group Ltd., a leading provider of video software and content security solutions that help service providers and media companies to securely deliver and monetize new video experiences.
Cisco and NBC Olympics provided a personalized, interactive, multiscreen Olympics experience at the 2012 London Olympic Games to select users at event venues and accommodations using Cisco® Videoscape™.
Cisco and Citrix announced a significant expansion of their successful desktop virtualization partnership into three strategic areas: cloud networking, cloud orchestration, and mobile workstyles.
Cisco and EMC announced further collaboration to help accelerate IT transformation by providing customers with choice and flexibility via “three paths to the cloud” — custom-design infrastructure, validated reference architectures, and pre-integrated converged infrastructure.
Cisco Innovation
Cisco introduced an expanded and enhanced content delivery network portfolio, branded as the Cisco Videoscape Distribution Suite.
Cisco introduced a new wave of security solutions designed to fortify data centers against the threats they face in moving toward more consolidated and virtualized environments, while also helping businesses to take advantage of new cloud-based models.
Cisco announced new elastic core networking capabilities that help service providers to cost-effectively launch and scale revenue-generating services within minutes instead of months.
Cisco introduced a new Unified Access solution, a highly secure network infrastructure based on one policy source and one management solution for the entire network, to help organizations quickly respond to new business opportunities while managing rapidly changing network demands.
Cisco introduced a full suite of solutions for the SAP HANA platform built on the Cisco Unified Computing System™ allowing customers to experience benefits — realtime data analytics and data warehousing — in seconds instead of hours.
Cisco unveiled enhancements to its collaboration portfolio, delivered via public, private or hybrid cloud models.
Select Customer Announcements
Miami International Securities Exchange, LLC announced plans to offer a trading platform built on Cisco’s ultra-low latency intelligent network infrastructure and designed from the ground up to address the highly secure, functional and high performance demands of the derivatives market.
Cisco and Manila Electric Company (Meralco), the Philippines’ largest distributor of electrical power, announced a collaboration to provide reliable computing and networking infrastructure as a foundation for operations on a smart grid.
Cisco, Barcelona’s City Council, and GDF SUEZ agreed to launch, and agreed on the criteria for the creation of, the City Protocol (the first certification system for smart cities) that can be put into practice by any city in the world.
SBB-Telemach Group, the largest pay-TV platform in southeast Europe providing television, Internet, and telephony services, selected the Cisco Videoscape-capable Personal DVB Set-Tops (PDS) Series and Cisco Integration Services to deliver next-generation television services.
Cisco and the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reached an agreement that will allow any United Nations organization to access Cisco’s networking technology solutions for emergency communications assistance during UN disaster relief missions.
Barclays Center will feature Cisco’s Connected Sports and Entertainment solutions — Connected Stadium Wi-Fi and StadiumVision™ to deliver a next-generation fan experience and make this venue one of the most technologically advanced arenas in the world.
Cisco announced that it has been selected by NBN Co. to provide equipment for its national data connectivity network, which is part of the Australian National Broadband Network.
Itaú BBA will invest $2 million in technology to expand its Latin American businesses and has selected Cisco solutions for its IT environment, including servers, networking, increased access security and IP telephony systems.