Cisco Q3 beats estimates, revenue down 8% from a year ago

Cisco published its third quarter financial results on Wednesday, beating market expectations despite revenue declines overall. The networking giant posted non-GAAP earnings of 79 cents per share on revenue of $12 billion, a decline of 8% year over year.

Analysts were expecting earnings of 71 cents per share on revenue of $11.88 billion.

Breaking revenue out by segment, product revenue was down 12% to $8.6 billion, and service revenue was up 5% to $3.38 billion. Product revenue sales from infrastructure platforms, which includes Cisco’s networking and router portfolios, was down 15% to $6.43 billion. Sales of security products grew 6% to $776 million, and sales of applications fell 5% to $1.36 billion for the quarter.

For the fourth quarter, the company is predicting non-GAAP earnings between 72 cents and 74 cents with revenue declining between 8.5% and 11.5% year-over-year. Wall Street is looking for non-GAAP earnings of 71 cents per share with $12.07 billion in revenue.

“We executed well in Q3 in a very challenging environment, delivering strong margins and non-GAAP EPS growth,” said Kelly Kramer, CFO of Cisco.  “The resiliency that we have been building into our business model is paying off, with software subscriptions now at 74% of our software revenue, up 9 points year over year.  We are focused on driving long-term profitable growth while delivering shareholder value.”

Shares of Cisco were up almost 3% after hours.

—ZD Net