By
Chimamanda U. Martha
February 13th, 2024
Moving forward from the fiscal quarterly report, Cisco gave better-than-expected guidance for its full 2023 fiscal year.
American-based technology company Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) jumped 4.5% in the after-trading session after the company reported impressive fiscal Q4 2022 results. The company performed well during the quarter, beating on the top and bottom lines. Cisco said adjusted earnings arrived at 83 cents per share, exceeding analysts’ expectations to go 82cents per share. Although, revenue was flat year over year at $13.1 billion in the fiscal Q4 2022. Cisco did better than analysts’ prediction of $12.79 billion.
Cisco Beats Revenue and Profit Estimate in Fiscal Q4 2022
CEO and Chair at Cisco, Chuck Robbins, said the fiscal Q4 performance gave the company a strong ending for the full-year 2022. He added that the teams worked earnestly towards the highest full-year on-GAAP earnings per share since the company’s inception. Robbins boasted of the strong demand, which is reflected in Cisco’s product orders and backlogs for the whole year. Notably, the product orders and backlogs are at record highs.
Additionally, Cisco chief financial officer Scott Herren also commented on the fiscal Q4 2022 performance. Herren said the company’s strong execution and initiatives were taken to reduce the impact of the global supply situation and pushed its total quarterly revenue to surpass expectations. He added:
“Our operational discipline is reflected in our healthy operating margin and strong cash flow generation, enabling us to return nearly $4 billion to our shareholders in Q4. And we continue to make good progress in our business model transformation with RPO of over $31 billion, which, coupled with our record backlog, provide us with substantial visibility and confidence in our future revenue.”
Furthermore, Cisco said the total gross margin during the fiscal Q4 2022 dropped to 61.3% from 63.6% in the same quarter of the previous year. Analysts were executing 64.7% on a GAAP basis. While product gross margin was 59.1%, service gross margin was 67.5%. Meanwhile, the product gross margin in fiscal Q4 2021 was 62.7%, while the service gross margin was 66.2% in the same period.
Cisco’s Fiscal 2023 Outlook
Moving forward from the fiscal quarterly report, Cisco gave better-than-expected guidance for its full 2023 fiscal year. For the coming fiscal year, the technology company expects adjusted earnings per share of $3.49 to $3.56. Also, the company is looking forward to recording 4% to 6% in revenue growth. The fiscal 2023 outlook transcends analysts’ views, which is 2.3% revenue growth.
Despite amassing profits in the fiscal Q4 2022, Cisco stock has plunged 3.52% in the last three months. The technology company has also lost more than 26% since the year started and 15.39% in the last 12 months. However, Cisco stock has been up 5.73% over the past month and 1.39% in the last five days. The company is currently up 4.41% to $48.72 in extended trading.