Cisco reported that while it saw year-over-year declines in both profits and revenues for its fiscal fourth-quarter, the company also saw orders grow for the first time in the last four quarters. The company reported that fourth-quarter revenues declined from $10.4 billion from the same period last year to $8.5 billion. Net income declined from $2 billion in fiscal Q4 2008 to $1.1 billion in fiscal Q4 2009.
One area of growth for Cisco was routing. Cisco's routing revenue was $2 billion, an 8 percent year-over-year increase. The company attributes overall growth of its router segment to 12 percent growth of its high-end router product portfolio. The continued service provider deployment of its CRS-1 platform, which grew 85 percent year-over-year, was a major contributor to the growth in the router segment. Meanwhile, switching revenue was $3.5 billion, a 5 percent year-over-year increase.
Even with gains in its routing segment, the company continues to conduct cost-cutting measures. Late last month, Cisco announced that it would lay off an additional 700 employees.
Stopping short of saying that that the telecom market is rebounding, Cisco CEO John Chambers painted a positive, yet cautious, outlook for the company. "We saw a number of positive signs this quarter in the economy and in our business, especially comparing our sequential quarter-over-quarter order trends," he said in a press release. "If we continue to see these positive order trends for the next one to two quarters, we believe there is a good chance we will look back and see that the tipping point occurred in our business in Q4."
For more:
- see the earnings release here
- Light Reading has this article
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