Cisco Grows Q3 Earnings, Revenue

"One of Cisco's greatest strengths is balance," said John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif., during a conference call. Chambers called the quarter "solid," noting that the third quarter typically is seasonally challenging for the vendor.

Cisco's advanced technologies, which include IP telephony, wireless, security, storage, optical and home networking, grew 29 percent year-over-year during the quarter, while routing grew 13 percent and switching grew 2 percent.

Chambers saw its strongest growth among service provider customers, growing that segment by 40 percent year-over-year in the United States.

For the quarter ended April 30, Cisco reported earnings of $1.41 billion, or 21 cents per share, up from $1.21 billion, or 17 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Excluding special items, Cisco reported earnings of $1.50 billion, or 23 cents per share, compared with $1.36 billion, or 19 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter climbed over 10 percent to $6.19 billion, up from $5.62 billion a year ago.

Financial analysts expected the company to report earnings of 22 cents per share before items on revenue of $6.16 billion, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

Cisco executives said revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter are expected to be in the range of $6.45 billion to $6.6 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 9 percent to 11 percent.

Shares of Cisco closed flat at $18.21 Tuesday prior to the announcement.