Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) advanced in premarket trading, a day after the networking-equipment giant posted higher-than-estimated revenue and profit in its fiscal fourth quarter, buoyed by strong demand for its products in the United States.
Shares increased as much as 3.4 percent. The stock had gained 11 percent since the beginning of the year through the close of regular trading yesterday.
Net income rose to $2.3 billion, or $0.45 per diluted share, in the three months ended July 25, from $2.2 billion, or $0.43 per diluted share, a year earlier, the San Jose, California-based company said in a statement late yesterday.
Adjusted earnings were $0.59 per share, surpassing the $0.56 average estimate of 34 analysts surveyed by Capital IQ.
Fourth-quarter revenue increased 4 percent to $12.8 billion year-over-year. That result exceeded the Wall Street consensus of $12.7 billion.
By geography, revenue in Americas rose 7 percent. The region accounted for 61 percent of total sales in the fourth quarter.
“I'm particularly pleased with the strong growth of deferred revenue which shows we are very effectively driving our business to a more predictable software-based business model, at the same time as growing revenues and earnings," chief executive officer Chuck Robbins said in the statement.
The company, considered a bellwether for corporate demand for network equipment, has been investing in new products and services such as data analytics software, security and cloud-management tools. The company said in June that it would buy cloud-based security firm OpenDNS for $635 million.
Moving forward, Cisco projects current-quarter revenue growth of 2 percent to 4 percent and adjusted earnings in the range of $0.55 per share to $0.57 per share. Analysts are modeling earnings of $0.56 per share and revenue of $12.55 billion.