The stock price of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) surged more than 6% to $24.33 per share during extended trading hours around 4:35 p.m. in New York. The company reported financial results for its third quarter that beat the consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts.
Financial results
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) reported 51 cents in adjusted earnings per share and $11.5 billion in revenue for its third quarter for fiscal 2014. The company’s financial results exceeded the 48 cents in earnings per share (excluding items) on $11.36 billion in revenue forecast by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
According to the company, its cash flow from operations for the third quarter was $3.2 billion, higher than the $2.9 billion recorded in the previous quarter and the $3.1 billion in the same period a year ago.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) ended the quarter with $50.5 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments.
In a statement, Cisco’s Chairman and CEO John Chambers said, “I’m pleased with our performance in Q3. Our financial results exceeded the guidance we provided last quarter as we demonstrated clear progress on returning to growth. The entire team is focused on moving Cisco forward aggressively and we remain confident in our long-term goal to be the #1 IT company.”
Dividend and stock buyback program
During the period, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) repurchased around 90 million shares of its common stock worth approximately $2 billion. The company bought back its shares at an average price of around $22 per share.
According to the company, its remaining authorized amount for stock buyback under its share repurchase program was approximately $10.1 billion as of April 26, 2014.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) also paid a quarterly dividend of 19 cents per share or a total of $974 million during the quarter.
Frank Calderoni, executive vice president and CFO of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) said, “We executed well this quarter with a focus on operational excellence. Our strong and consistent cash generation demonstrates the value of our business model.”
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) recently announced its plan to build the largest intercloud for the Internet of Everything (IoE), together with a set of partners.
Industrial Internet Consortium
Cisco, along with AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), established the Industrial Internet Consortium, an open membership group dedicated to breaking down the barriers of technology silos to support better access to big data with improved integration of the physical and digital worlds.
