Cisco hits the ball out of the park!

Cisco Systems put in stellar results even though profit was mostly flat as stock-compensation expenses and costs tied to its acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta offset an 18% jump in sales. Their share price jumped in after hours trading.

Revenue rose 18% to $7.32 billion from $6.19 billion a year earlier. Part of the boost in sales came from their February acquisition of set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta, which Cisco said contributed $407 million in sales.

Cisco also benefited from steady strength in its basic businesses. The world's largest maker of networking gear said its router sales increased to $1.5 billion, up 5% from the prior quarter. Sales of switching equipment grew an unexpectedly strong 13% from the prior quarter to $2.69 billion.

Cisco's acquisition of Scientific Atlanta is looking like a superb bet as has been their transition towards the consumer sector with Linksys etc. Cisco has retained a positive outlook and expects revenues to climb 18% to 21% in their next quarter from a year ago, to $7.8 billion to $7.95 billion. Excluding revenue from Scientific-Atlanta, sales should rise 10% to 12.5% over a year ago.

Cisco is also benefitting from a strong corporate order book and with the continued proliferation of broadband, Cisco's networking gear will benefit from a rising tide for a while to come. Dell should study Cisco's strategy as a solid case study in how to change direction from selling only to corporates to successfully transitioning to the consumer sector as well.