Net profit jumped 21 percent to USD 2.8 billion, and EPS increased 24 percent to USD 0.56, better than expected. Adjusted EPS, excluding the STB business, rose 9 percent to USD 0.63.
Cisco also confirmed that it plans another round of restructuring in order to lower its cost base and reinvest the savings in priority areas such as security, IoT, collaboration, data centre and cloud. The restructuring will eliminate up to 5,500 positions, or around 7 percent of its global workforce, less than previous reports of up to 14,000 jobs to go. The restructuring started already in fiscal Q1.For the first quarter to October, Cisco forecast revenues down 1 percent to up 1 percent year-on-year, after excluding the STB business. Its adjusted gross margin is estimated at 63-64 percent, compared to 64.6 percent in Q4, and EPS is targeted at USD 0.42-0.47.
The company ended July with a product backlog worth USD 4.6 billion, up 1 percent from a year earlier, and deferred revenue totaled USD 16.5 billion, up 8 percent. Cisco said orders from the service provider and emerging markets segments turned lower in Q4, down 5 and 6 percent respectively, but the remainder of the business grew orders by 5 percent.
