Topic: How To Invest

Please advise me of your views on Cisco Systems. Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Cisco Systems Inc., $23.14, symbol CSCO on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 5.7 billion; Market cap: $131.9 billion), is a leading maker of hardware and software that links and manages computer networks. The company’s hardware includes routers, local-area network (LAN) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switches, and dial-up access servers. (Servers are computers that manage shared files or programs on a network.) Cisco’s Internet Operating System (IOS) software ties these products together, delivers network services (which interconnect and move information between networks) and lets programs run on networks. Cisco gets about 46% of its revenue from overseas customers. The company’s revenues fell from $39.5 billion in fiscal 2008 (years end July 31) to $36.1 billion in fiscal 2009. However, now that the economy has begun to revive, many businesses have begun updating their networking equipment. As a result, Cisco’s revenue jumped 27.0% in its third quarter, which ended May 1, 2010, to $10.4 billion from $8.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding one-time items,…