Network equipment maker Cisco Systems exceeded Wall Street estimates with fiscal fourth-quarter profit that was almost the same as in the year-ago period, before the company introduced significant accounting changes, an Associated Press report said.
The report said net income for the three months ended July 29 was $1.544 billion compared with $1.540 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2005.
The report further said Cisco president and CEO John Chambers credited the 20% increase in the number of salespeople in developing countries, particularly Asia, for delivering a 21% gain in quarterly revenue worldwide.
The newest results would have shown an increase of nearly 22% in net income, except for $152 million in compensation expenses related to employee stock options and employee stock purchases, the report said.
Had those accounting changes been in place last year, Cisco would have reported fiscal fourth quarter profit of $1.265 million, the report said.
Quarterly sales at Cisco, one of the world's largest makers of routers, switches and other devices that connected computers to the Internet, rose to $7.98 billion from $6.6 billion in the same quarter of 2005, the report further said.