The Dow Jones industrial average is composed of 30 stocks. The average is up 9.68% to 25,585.69 this year. That rise has been outpaced by tech mainstay Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), which is 25.48% higher so far to $54.37. That barely edged out American Express, which is up 25.38% to $119.51.
One reason for the surge is the recent report of Cisco’s quarterly earnings for the period that ended April 27. Revenue rose 4% year over year to $13 billion. Net income was up 13% to $3 billion. Per-share earnings rose 23% to $0.69.
Comments quoted by MarketWatch offer an additional reason for the stock price:
Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold wrote that the company continues to see high enterprise spending, despite concerns that macroeconomic uncertainty would prompt a slowdown, especially after a strong 2018. Cisco also shrugged off tariff fears, and Leopold expects that the company would pass on any cost increases to its customers.
TheStreet’s Jim Cramer commented that Cisco spotted trade problems that might affect its results early instead of adopting a wait-and-see position:
Cisco did not take that tack. Six months ago Cisco adopted a “hope for the best prepare for the worst” strategy where the company simultaneously pleaded its case but shifted sourcing with alacrity to all over the globe. That’s how CEO Chuck Robbins could say on the conference call: “…and so last week when we saw the indication that the tariffs were going to move to 25% on Friday morning the teams kicked in and we actually have executed completely on everything that we need to do to deal with the tariffs.”
As broadband, both wireline and wireless, grows, Cisco’s suite of products, from routers to security products to enterprise cloud centers, are likely to be in greater and greater demand. Its recent quarter should be a preview of more solid results for the balance of the year.
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