John Chambers leaves Cisco with revenue up 5%, profits up 12%

• JULIE BORT
 
•   

• MAY 13, 2015, 3:59 PM
• 2,824

Fortune Brainstorm TECH 2014outgoing Cisco CEO John Chambers

CSCOMay 14 12:16PM
29.25	Change -0.10	% Change -0.34%

Cisco reported its quarterly earnings after the market closed on Wednesday.

It was a beat:

$0.54 per share (analysts expected $0.53, so that's a beat). Up from 51 cents a year ago.

$12.1 billion in revenue (analysts were expecting $12.07 billion, another slight beat), up from $11.54 billion a year ago.

Cisco also authorized a dividend of $0.21 per common share.

This earnings is a milestone for the company, as it's the last one where John Chambers will be CEO. Chambers announced that he's retiring from the job he's held for 20 years to become executive chairman in July.

Chuck Robbins, a longtime Cisco employee who was running the sales organization, will take over as CEO.

Here's the full press release.

Strong Execution Drives Business Momentum and Return for Shareholders

SAN JOSE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/15 -- Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO)

• Q3 Revenue: $12.1 billion (increase of 5% year over year)
• Q3 Earnings per Share: $0.47 GAAP; $0.54 non-GAAP

Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, today reported its third quarter results for the period ended April 25, 2015. Cisco reported third quarter revenue of $12.1 billion, net income on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis of $2.4 billion or $0.47 per share, and non-GAAP net income of $2.8 billion or $0.54 per share.

"Cisco is in a very strong position and we delivered another solid quarter. Our vision and strategy are working and we are executing very well in a tough environment, as evidenced in our revenue growth, profitability, strong gross margins and cash generation. Our customers feel the pace of change and disruption in every industry and market, and know their success depends on digitizing their business. Whether they are the disruptor or the incumbent, they are coming to Ciscoas their strategic partner. We believe we are pulling away from our competition using the same formula we've always used: integrating our industry-leading products in every category into architectures and solutions that deliver real outcomes. We've created this opportunity and it is ours to execute," stated John Chambers, Cisco chairman and CEO.

"I am extremely honored and proud to have led Cisco for the last 20 years and to get us to this positive inflection point. We have a tremendous opportunity to extend our lead in the industry, and with Chuck Robbins as the CEO for Cisco'snext chapter, we have exactly the right leader to capture that opportunity. I could not be more confident in our future."

GAAP Results
		Q3 2015					Q3 2014					Vs. Q3 2014
Revenue		$	12.1		billion		$	11.5		billion		5.1	%
Net Income		$	2.4		billion		$	2.2		billion		11.7	%
Earnings per Share		$	0.47				$	0.42				11.9	%

Non-GAAP Results
		Q3 2015					Q3 2014					Vs. Q3 2014
Net Income		$	2.8		billion		$	2.6		billion		5.9	%
Earnings per Share		$	0.54				$	0.51				5.9	%

Revenue for the first nine months of fiscal 2015 was $36.3 billion, compared with $34.8 billion for the first nine months of fiscal 2014. Net income for the first nine months of fiscal 2015, on a GAAP basis, was $6.7 billion or $1.29 per share, compared with $5.6 billion or $1.06 per share for the first nine months of fiscal 2014. Non-GAAP net income for the first nine months of fiscal 2015 was $8.3 billion or $1.62 per share, compared with $8.0 billion or $1.51 per share for the first nine months of fiscal 2014.

...

Dividends and Stock Repurchase Program

During the third quarter of fiscal 2015, Cisco paid a cash dividend of $0.21 per common share, or $1.1 billion.

Cisco repurchased approximately 35 million shares of common stock under the stock repurchase program at an average price of $28.39 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $1.0 billion during the third quarter of fiscal 2015. As of April 25, 2015, Cisco had repurchased and retired 4.4 billion shares of Cisco common stock at an average price of $20.80 per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $91.7 billion since the inception of the stock repurchase program. The remaining authorized amount for stock repurchases under this program is approximately $5.3 billion with no termination date.