In the hours since Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) reported its fiscal fourth quarter and full year earnings, dozens or perhaps even hundreds of articles have been written parsing every word said by CEO John Chambers, every line on the balance sheet. As Cisco goes, so goes the recovery, or so the media seems to think. The key phrase? We may have, perhaps, possibly, reached the ‘tipping point’ sometime during the quarter. It’s a lovely phrase, meaning whatever we want it to mean. It’s the kind of phrase CEOs feed us when we demand answers he (or she) doesn’t have.
Cisco’s results tell us what we already know by this point. By beating low expectations they say simply that it’s not as bad as it was and there are bright spots here and there, but all things considered it’s still sucking pretty bad. If the cavalry is coming, they aren’t here yet. So now we just plug away and hope the seeds of recovery become obvious when third quarter results start trickling out in October. We didn’t really need the media to pounce on the company to know that, but oh well it’s Cisco right? They can take it.
Anyhow, revenues were inline, profits were way down but not as far as expected, and projections are for slight sequential revenue growth next quarter.
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Hear, hear, Rob!
And let us not forget, “You can call me John, Joe,” Chambers’ abysmal calls during the tech bubble meltdown subsequent to Y2K.