Cisco Systems : Reports Second Quarter Earnings

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 11, 2015) - Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO)

• Q2 Revenue: $11.9 billion (increase of 7% year over year)
• Q2 Earnings per Share: $0.46 GAAP; $0.53 non-GAAP

Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, today reported its second quarter results for the period ended January 24, 2015. Cisco reported second quarter revenue of $11.9 billion, net income on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis of $2.4 billion or $0.46 per share, and non-GAAP net income of $2.7 billion or $0.53 per share.

"Our Q2 results reflect continued progress as we transform Cisco to become the #1 IT company. In the quarter we grew revenues by 7%, with strong EPS growth, and saw the best balance of growth across all our geographies, products, and segments. We delivered this strong performance despite a volatile economic environment," stated Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers.

"Our strong momentum is the direct result of how well we have managed our company transformation over the last three plus years and our leadership position in the key technology transitions of cloud, mobility, big data, security, collaboration, and the Internet of Everything. Every nation, every company, everything is becoming digitized and the network is at the center of this transformation."

Revenue for the first six months of fiscal 2015 was $24.2 billion, compared with $23.2 billion for the first six months of fiscal 2014. Net income for the first six months of fiscal 2015, on a GAAP basis, was $4.2 billion or $0.82 per share, compared with $3.4 billion or $0.64 per share for the first six months of fiscal 2014. Non-GAAP net income for the first six months of fiscal 2015 was $5.5 billion or $1.08 per share, compared with $5.4 billion or $1.00 per share for the first six months of fiscal 2014.

A reconciliation between net income on a GAAP basis and non-GAAP net income is provided in the table following the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Cisco will discuss second quarter results and business outlook on a conference call and webcast at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today. Call information and related charts are available at http://investor.cisco.com.

Cisco Increases Quarterly Cash Dividend
Cisco is also announcing that earlier today its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per common share, a two-cent increase over the previous quarter's dividend, to be paid on April 22, 2015 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 2, 2015. Future dividends will be subject to Board approval.

"This was a good quarter to start as CFO," stated Kelly Kramer, EVP and CFO. "The momentum in the business feels good and we are excited about the opportunities ahead. Our revenue growth and increased EPS allows us to continue to give back to shareholders as we returned $2.2 billion to shareholders in Q2 and remain committed to returning at least 50% of our free cash flow annually. We are also pleased to increase our dividend to $0.21 this quarter, an 11% increase."

Other Financial Highlights

• Cash flows from operations were $2.9 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2015, compared with $2.5 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, and compared with $2.9 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2014.
• Cash and cash equivalents and investments were $53.0 billion at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2015, compared with $52.1 billion at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2015, and compared with $52.1 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.
• During the second quarter of fiscal 2015, Cisco paid a cash dividend of $0.19 per common share, or $974 million.
• Cisco repurchased approximately 44 million shares of common stock under the stock repurchase program at an average price of $27.63 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $1.2 billion during the second quarter of fiscal 2015. As of January 24, 2015, Cisco had repurchased and retired 4.4 billion shares of Cisco common stock at an average price of $20.73 per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $90.7 billion since the inception of the stock repurchase program. The remaining authorized amount for stock repurchases under this program is approximately $6.3 billion with no termination date.

Internet of Everything

• The Metropolitan Regional Government of Santiago signed a collaboration agreement with Cisco Chile with the aim to turn Santiago into a "Smart City."
• Cisco announced the opening of a new Internet of Everything (IoE) Innovation Center in Tokyo.

Fast IT

• Cisco released the Cisco 2015 Annual Security Report that revealed a widening gap between perception and reality of cybersecurity readiness.
• The Cisco® Connected Analytics for the IoE was unveiled to help customers access, analyze and act on data -- from the cloud to the data center to the network's edge.
• Cisco and IBM announced the VersaStack solution that combines the innovation of the Cisco UCS® Integrated Infrastructure with the efficiency of the IBM Storwize storage system.
• The fourth annual Cisco Global Cloud Index (2013-2018) projected that over the next five years data center traffic will nearly triple, with cloud representing 76 percent of total data center traffic.
• Cisco Meraki® solutions will be used to offer Internet connectivity under Mexico Conectado, a program developed by the Mexican federal government that offers broadband connectivity to the population in public areas.
• Cisco announced that four new cloud providers from across Latin America have joined the Intercloud partner ecosystem.
• Cisco announced that beIN SPORTS selected the Cisco Videoscape™ TV platform to deliver advanced sports video experiences across more than 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Innovation

• Cisco completed the acquisition of Neohapsis to help deliver comprehensive services to help customers build the security capabilities required to remain secure and competitive in today's markets.
• Cisco and Charter Communications entered a strategic agreement to supply key Cisco products in support of Charter's next-generation video solution.
• In December 2014, Cisco celebrated 30 years of innovation.
• Cisco unveiled Project Squared, a business collaboration app that combines chat, audio, video, multi-party meetings and content sharing in a single experience that supports the demanding collaboration needs of modern teams.
• Cisco introduced the TelePresence™ IX5000 series, a world-class quality video collaboration experience for 6-to-18 people.
• Cisco was named one of the 50 most innovative companies by Boston Consulting Group and jumped to 14th from 46th last year.

Editor's Notes:

• Q2 fiscal year 2015 conference call to discuss Cisco's results along with its business outlook will be held on Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Conference call number is 1-888-848-6507 (United States) or 1-212-519-0847 (international).
• Conference call replay will be available from 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time, February 11, 2015 to 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time, on February 18, 2015 at 1-866-410-5841 (United States) or 1-203-369-0643 (international). The replay will also be available via webcast from February 11, 2015 through April 17, 2015 on the Cisco Investor Relations website at http://investor.cisco.com.
• Additional information regarding Cisco's financials, as well as a webcast of the conference call with visuals designed to guide participants through the call, will be available at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, February 11, 2015. Text of the conference call's prepared remarks will be available within 24 hours of completion of the call. The webcast will include both the prepared remarks and the question-and-answer session. This information, along with the GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation information, will be available on the Cisco Investor Relations website at http://investor.cisco.com.

About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. For ongoing news, please go to http://thenetwork.cisco.com.

This release may be deemed to contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding future events (such as our goal to become the #1 IT company; our leadership position in and ability to continue to grow in key technology transitions of cloud, mobility, big data, security, collaboration, and the Internet of Everything; the ability of our architectures and solutions to drive positive outcomes and enable productivity in our customers' businesses; continued success of our transformation strategy and our focus on growing market share; and our ability to deliver value to shareholders through our capital allocation strategy and our continued investment in long-term growth opportunities) and the future financial performance of Cisco that involve risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results due to a variety of factors, including: business and economic conditions and growth trends in the networking industry, our customer markets and various geographic regions; global economic conditions and uncertainties in the geopolitical environment; overall information technology spending; the growth and evolution of the Internet and levels of capital spending on Internet-based systems; variations in customer demand for products and services, including sales to the service provider market and other customer markets; the return on our investments in certain priorities, including our foundational priorities, and in certain geographical locations; the timing of orders and manufacturing and customer lead times; changes in customer order patterns or customer mix; insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; variability of component costs; variations in sales channels, product costs or mix of products sold; our ability to successfully acquire businesses and technologies and to successfully integrate and operate these acquired businesses and technologies; our ability to achieve expected benefits of our partnerships; increased competition in our product and service markets, including the data center; dependence on the introduction and market acceptance of new product offerings and standards; rapid technological and market change; manufacturing and sourcing risks; product defects and returns; litigation involving patents, intellectual property, antitrust, shareholder and other matters, and governmental investigations; natural catastrophic events; a pandemic or epidemic; our ability to achieve the benefits anticipated from our investments in sales, engineering, service, marketing and manufacturing activities; our ability to recruit and retain key personnel; our ability to manage financial risk, and to manage expenses during economic downturns; risks related to the global nature of our operations, including our operations in emerging markets; currency fluctuations and other international factors; changes in provision for income taxes, including changes in tax laws and regulations or adverse outcomes resulting from examinations of our income tax returns; potential volatility in operating results; and other factors listed in Cisco's most recent reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K filed on November 20, 2014 and September 9, 2014, respectively. The financial information contained in this release should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in Cisco's most recent reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K as each may be amended from time to time. Cisco's results of operations for the three and six months ended January 24, 2015 are not necessarily indicative of Cisco's operating results for any future periods. Any projections in this release are based on limited information currently available to Cisco, which is subject to change. Although any such projections and the factors influencing them will likely change, Cisco will not necessarily update the information, since Cisco will only provide guidance at certain points during the year. Such information speaks only as of the date of this release.

This release includes non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP effective tax rates, non-GAAP net income per share data, non-GAAP inventory turns and free cash flow.

These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative for, measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. In addition, these non-GAAP measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. Cisco believes that non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with Cisco's results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP and that these measures should only be used to evaluate Cisco's results of operations in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures.

Cisco believes that the presentation of non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP effective tax rates, and non-GAAP net income per share data, when shown in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures, provides useful information to investors and management regarding financial and business trends relating to its financial condition and results of operations. In addition, Cisco believes that the presentation of non-GAAP inventory turns provides useful information to investors and management regarding financial and business trends relating to inventory management based on the operating activities of the periods presented. Cisco believes that the presentation of free cash flow, which it defines as the net cash provided by operating activities less cash used to acquire property and equipment, to be a liquidity measure that provides useful information to management and investors because of its intent to return a stated percentage of free cash flow to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock repurchases. Cisco further regards free cash flow as a useful measure because it reflects cash that can be used to, among other things, invest in its business, make strategic acquisitions, repurchase common stock, and pay dividends on its common stock, after deducting capital investments.

For its internal budgeting process, Cisco's management uses financial statements that do not include, when applicable, share-based compensation expense, amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, impact to cost of sales from purchase accounting adjustments to inventory, acquisition-related/divestiture costs (which includes a gain recognized in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 with respect to the reorganization and divestiture of a portion of Cisco's investment in VCE), significant asset impairments and restructurings, significant litigation and other contingencies, the income tax effects of the foregoing, and significant tax matters. Cisco's management also uses the foregoing non-GAAP measures, in addition to the corresponding GAAP measures, in reviewing the financial results of Cisco. In prior periods, Cisco has excluded other items that it no longer excludes for purposes of its non-GAAP financial measures. From time to time in the future there may be other items that Cisco may exclude for purposes of its internal budgeting process and in reviewing its financial results. For additional information on the items excluded by Cisco from one or more of its non-GAAP financial measures, refer to the Form 8-K regarding this release furnished today to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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