Cisco reported a 7 percent rise in revenue to $12.80 billion for the third quarter ended May 1 from a year earlier.
Net income rose to $2.86 billion, or 68 cents per share, from $2.77 billion, or 65 cents per share.
Cisco revenue by geographic segment was: Americas up 2 percent, EMEA up 11 percent, and APJC up 19 percent. Product revenue performance was broad-based with growth in Security, up 13 percent, Infrastructure Platforms up 6 percent, and Applications up 5 percent.
Cisco’s service revenue rose 8 percent and product revenue grew 6 percent, boosted by a demand for its videoconferencing platform, virtual private network and cybersecurity products as offices remained closed despite accelerated COVID-19 vaccinations.
81 percent of the company’s $3.8 billion fiscal third-quarter software revenue was recurring or from subscriptions, putting the company on track for more than $14 billion in software sales over the next 12 months. “That figure would make us one of the largest five or six software companies in the world,” Cisco Chief Financial Officer Scott Herren said.
Cisco Systems has cautioned that supply chain issues will linger through the end of 2021 and forecast 6 percent to 8 percent revenue growth in its current-quarter.
“Notwithstanding what’s going on in the supply chain, our revenue guide would have been higher, which could have probably flowed through to improving EPS as well,” Chief Executive Officer Charles Robbins said during an earnings call.
Cisco forecast fourth-quarter profit of 81 cents to 83 cents per share, compared with estimates of 85 cents per share. Cisco is expecting 6-8 percent increase in its revenue in the current quarter despite the supply chain issues.
Cisco Chief Financial Officer Scott Herren said the supply chain issues were temporary.
“Double-digit growth in orders was something we’d not seen since 2012,” Herren said. “There’s a lot to feel good about right now.”
Cisco has closed acquisitions of Acacia Communications, IMImobile and Dashbase in the third quarter of fiscal 2021, and Slido s.r.o in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021.