Tag Archives: technology

Cisco Earnings, Guidance Beat Wall Street Estimates, Stock Up Late

Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) reported fiscal third-quarter earnings after the market close Wednesday that beat on both the top and bottom lines, and did its earnings guidance. Revenue rose 3% from the year-earlier period, to $12 billion, just beating the consensus estimate of $11.97 billion, as polled by Thomson Reuters. For the quarter ended April 30, Cisco said earnings per share minus items rose 5.6% to 57 cents, edging the consensus of 55 cents. The No. 1 maker of switches and other networking gear projected Q4 EPS ex items of 59 cents to 61 cents, vs. 59 cents in the year-ago quarter and topping consensus of 58 cents. Cisco stock was up 5% in after-hours trading, after the earnings release. Cisco stock rose a fraction in Wednesday’s regular session, to 26.72, which is up 19% from the two-year low of 22.46 touched on Feb. 10. “We delivered a strong Q3, executing well despite the challenging environment,” Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said in the earnings release. Analysts had lowered expectations ahead of Cisco earnings due to the growing number of companies outsourcing computing workloads to cloud computing service providers such as Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and its Amazon Web Services business. The move to cloud computing has lowered demand for Cisco’s networking gear. The lowered expectations also reflected lower spending on information technology overall. Well aware of the trends, Cisco is diversifying beyond its core switch and router business into newer, higher-growth segments such as software, data centers, security, wireless and the Internet of Things market.

Google Home Takes On Amazon’s Echo; Can Apple’s Siri Be Home Hub?

Taking on Amazon.com ’s ( AMZN ) Echo, Alphabe t’s ( GOOGL ) Google previewed an artificial intelligence-powered, voice-activated home device at its Google I/O developer’s conference Wednesday. While Apple ( AAPL ) has Siri, its AI-based digital assistant for iPhones, it has yet to introduce a home hub device. Amazon, though, has sold an estimated 3 million Echo home hubs. “Credit to the team at Amazon for creating a lot of excitement in this space,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in his I/O keynote speech Wednesday. Google Home, designed for music streaming and other entertainment, features built-in search capabilities. The “virtual agent” answers simple questions and carries out basic tasks. Google did not discuss pricing. Google said it expects multiple devices to be used in homes. The Google Home product was code-named “Project Chirp.” Google Home apparently was not developed by Nest Labs, the smart-home-device startup that it bought in 2014. Google Home, however, is expected to communicate with Nest products and Android-based devices. Google also unveiled a new messenging app called “Allo” at the developer’s conference, which runs through Friday at the Mountain View, Calif., Shoreline Amphitheater, near Alphabet headquarters. In a recent letter to Google shareholders, Pichai touted plans for artificial intelligence. While Apple and Google have dominated in the world of mobile apps, there could be more competition down the road.  Facebook ( FB ) recently introduced “chatbots,” while  Microsoft ( MSFT ) launched its “Bot Framework” software tools for developers. Both rely on AI. Wednesday, Google did not unveil a virtual reality headset to compete with Facebook’s Oculus Rift, as some observers had speculated. But Google did introduce a VR headset and controller reference design, called Daydream, for third-party developers. Google said Android N,  the new version of its mobile operating system, will have a VR mode. And the company said Samsung, HTC and Xiaomi will sell Daydream-ready mobile phones. Google stock was down a fraction, near 718, in afternoon trading in the stock market today , and shares have traded below the key 50-day moving average since the company posted disappointing Q1 earnings in late April