Cisco's Q1 Report Better than Expected

Cisco Systems (CSCO 23.29) reported fiscal first quarter earnings and revenue that fell from last year, but the results topped Wall Street expectations.

Cisco reported fiscal first quarter earnings of $0.36 per share, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of $0.31.  Non-GAAP net income of $2.1 billion was down 15.3% year-over-year.

Revenues fell 12.6% year-over-year to $9 billion, topping the $8.74 billion consensus estimate.

Gross margins of 65% came in ahead of the 64.3% Street estimate and the company's guidance of 64%.

"Building off what we saw as a clear tipping point in Q4, our Q1 results continued to reflect strong sequential growth trends that meet or exceed expectations during normal economic times," said CEO John Chambers.

Cisco said that its board authorized up to $10 billion in additional purchases of its stock.  Including the new authorization, Cisco has approximately $13.1 billion authorized for share buybacks.

Shares of CSCO are about 3.5% higher about an hour ahead of Thursday's opening bell.