Boston, MA 10/23/2013 (wallstreetpr) – Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is looking for means to shore up its revenues. Analysts recently revised the company’s earning estimates downwards. The analysts estimate that the earnings for the next quarter will be $12.36 billion down from earlier estimates of $12.46 billion. The full year revenues are expected to be $50.87 billion, down from $51.27 billion some time ago. This will result in growth of 4.7% year-on-year growth. The earnings per share are estimated to be $2.11.
Cisco has been moving aggressively on acquisitions to shore up its balance sheet. The company has a stockpile of $50 billion in cash reserves. If these are not deployed properly, investors will be asking for them to be distributed as dividend pay-outs or finance buyback from the markets. CISCO has done well in acquisitions; its tally has reached 140 acquisitions in the last decade. Rumours in the market suggest that CISCO may be eyeing Blackberry as an acquisition. Blackberry is seen as a strategic fit in CISCO’s strategic aim. The acquisition will give CISCO a foothold in the smartphone market. With many suitors in the market, it does remain to be seen if the company can bag Blackberry at all.
The company has been facing severe competition in its core businesses. The company has become a leading provider of conditional access and digital rights management solutions in Asia. CISCO recently crossed the 100 million mark in subscriber base, in this region. With an average of 3.3 persons per household, the company now reaches more than 300 million people here. News from China continues to disappoint. The company is looking at a 40% drop in hardware sales here. It feels that the buyers are waiting for clarity from Chinese government before finalising their purchases. The Chinese government appears to be arm-twisting them to purchase from Chinese manufacturers.
The shares of the company were down by 1.22% at the end of trading on October 22, 2013
