Cisco looks for a rebound in China

Article Excerpt

CISCO SYSTEMS INC. $29 (Nasdaq symbol CSCO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.1 billion; Market cap: $147.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cisco.com) has seen falling sales of routers and other computer-networking equipment in China in the past few years. That’s largely because of fears that U.S. intelligence agencies are secretly using the company’s gear to spy on foreign firms and governments. In the quarter ended April 25, 2015, Cisco’s Chinese sales fell 20% from a year earlier. The company now aims to reverse the decline by investing in new partnerships with Chinese universities and other institutions. This should help Cisco develop new equipment to compete with products from domestic firms like Huawei Technologies. In all, Cisco will spend $10 billion on these projects over the next few years. To put that in context, it earned $10.9 billion, or $2.06 a share, in the fiscal year ended July 26, 2014. Cisco…