Cloud Growth – Cisco posts 79 percent jump in quarterly profit

Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers on Wednesday reported strong revenue and profit — as well as thousands of new hires around the globe, including hundreds in San Jose — but his upbeat comments came amid “mixed signals” from customers nervous about the wobbly global economy.

On a day markets plunged on worries about a stalling economic recovery, Cisco, the San Jose maker of the plumbing for the Internet, reported a $1.9 billion profit for its fourth quarter, a 79 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. Earnings were 33 cents a share, or 43 cents a share excluding certain charges.

Sales jumped 27 percent to $10.8 billion. For fiscal year 2010, Cisco had sales of $40 billion, an 11 percent increase from the previous year. The results were in line with Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting adjusted earnings of 42 cents a share on revenue of $10.87 billion.

But Cisco’s conservative forecast for the current quarter — revenue growth of 18 to 20 percent — gave investors jitters. In after-hours trading, shares of Cisco dropped $1.89, or 7.96 percent, to $21.85.

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