Chuck Robbins faced a daunting task in replacing John Chambers, who became synonymous with Cisco (CSCO) after two decades in charge. Yet the new boss is off to a good start: rising demand for routers, switches and workplace tools drove the networking giant's adjusted net income up 5 per cent to $11.4bn (£7.3bn).
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Cisco continued to shift from hardware to higher-margin, more reliable software revenues, while also investing in burgeoning markets such as 'big data' and cybersecurity. Its efforts propelled sales of both products and services up 4 per cent and boosted deferred revenue by 7 per cent to $15.2bn.
Broker Cantor Fitzgerald expects EPS of $2.32 for the year to July 2016 ($2.21 in full-year 2015).
