Next Week's Top Billing: Cisco Systems Earnings Report (CSCO)

On Wednesday, November 7, 2007, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) will report earnings, and needless to say this will be perhaps the most important event next week.  On last look, the First Call consensus was $0.36 EPS on $9.54 Billion in revenues.  Those numbers may change slightly as there are three trading days for last minute broker changes.  If Cisco’s John Chambers maintains the equivalent to his stance last quarter that "this is the best global growth opportunities seen since the early 1990’s," then it is hard to imagine that traders will be disappointed.

Here was Chambers’ last guidance: The company increased expectations for next year but not focusing on short-term.  Chambers raised longer-term guidance to 12-17% from 10-15% range previously given.  Sees 2008 now 13-16% and revenue guidance for next quarter is 9.45 to $9.55 Billion (versus $9.38 Billion estimates). 

At the start of 2007, 24/7 Wall St. gave the scenario that would generate a $34.00 target by mid-year, and that has yet to be seen.   This was also Jim Cramer’s #3 Growth Pick for 2007 and he’s stayed behind it.  Now that analysts have chased the targets up, it looks like the average Wall Street price target is now just under $36.00.  Cisco’s 52-week trading range is $23.56 to $33.60, but shares havespent almost the entire time since the end of August above $31.00.

We’ll send some more data to our free email list next week and then follow up here in the hours before earnings with many more details and a full chart analysis, Wall Street analyst targets, and option trader pricing expectations.  Cisco will also host its Annual Meeting of Shareholders webcast the following week on Thursday, November 15 at 10:00 A.M. PT (1:00 P.M. EST) with presentations from chairman and CEO, John Chambers, and Chief Financial Officer, Dennis Powell.

Jon C. Ogg
November 2, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.