Cisco Systems Reports Stronger-Than-Expected 3Q Revenue Growth

By Maria Armental

Cisco Systems Inc.'s revenue rose a stronger-than-expected 7% in the third quarter while total product orderw rose 10% from the year earlier, the strongest demand in nearly a decade, the company said.

It was the first year-on-year quarterly increase following a string of quarterly declines as businesses cut back on hardware networking equipment during the pandemic.

Company officials had pointed to signs of strength, and on Wednesday said that they expected to benefit from customers' accelerating adoption of hybrid work, digital transformation and cloud.

Cisco's third-quarter profit rose to $2.86 billion from $2.77 billion a year earlier. On a per-share basis, profit was 68 cents a share, or 83 cents excluding stock-based compensation and other items.

Revenue for the quarter ended May 1 rose to $12.8 billion from $11.98 billion a year earlier.

Cisco had projected 64 cents to 69 cents a share, or 80 cents to 82 cents as adjusted, with revenue increasing 3.5% to 5.5% from the year earlier. Analysts expected a profit of 67 cents a share, or 82 cents on an adjusted basis, on $12.57 billion in revenue.

Write to Maria Armental at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 19, 2021 16:31 ET (20:31 GMT)

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