Industry Updates

Cisco reported third quarter results for the period ended May 1, 2021. Cisco reported third quarter revenue of $12.8 billion, net income on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis of $2.9 billion or $0.68 per share, and non-GAAP net income of $3.5 billion or $0.83 per share.

"Cisco had a great quarter with strong demand across the business," said Chuck Robbins, chairman and CEO of Cisco. "We are confident in our strategy and our ability to lead the next phase of the recovery as our customers accelerate their adoption of hybrid work, digital transformation, cloud, and continued strong uptake of our subscription-based offerings."

"We executed well with strong product orders, and solid growth in revenue, net income, and EPS," said Scott Herren, CFO of Cisco. "Our investments in innovation and accelerated shift to more software offerings and subscriptions led to double-digit growth in deferred revenue, remaining performance obligations and higher levels of recurring revenue."

The third quarter of fiscal 2021 had 14 weeks compared with 13 weeks in the third quarter of fiscal 2020.

Reconciliations between net income, EPS, and other measures on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis are provided in the tables located in the section entitled "Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP Measures."

Financial Summary

All comparative percentages are on a year-over-year basis unless otherwise noted.

Q3 FY 2021 Highlights

Revenue -- Total revenue was up 7% at $12.8 billion, with product revenue up 6% and service revenue up 8%. Revenue by geographic segment was: Americas up 2%, EMEA up 11%, and APJC up 19%. Product revenue performance was broad-based with growth in Security, up 13%, Infrastructure Platforms up 6%, and Applications up 5%.

Gross Margin -- On a GAAP basis, total gross margin, product gross margin, and service gross margin were 63.9%, 62.6%, and 67.4%, respectively, as compared with 64.9%, 63.7%, and 67.7%, respectively, in the third quarter of fiscal 2020.

On a non-GAAP basis, total gross margin, product gross margin, and service gross margin were 66.0%, 64.9%, and 68.7%, respectively, as compared with 66.6%, 65.8%, and 68.9%, respectively, in the third quarter of fiscal 2020.

Total gross margins by geographic segment were: 66.5% for the Americas, 65.6% for EMEA and 64.7% for APJC.

Operating Expenses -- On a GAAP basis, operating expenses were $4.7 billion, up 8%, and were 36.9% of revenue. Non-GAAP operating expenses were $4.1 billion, up 9%, and were 32.4% of revenue.

Operating Income -- GAAP operating income was $3.5 billion, up 1%, with GAAP operating margin of 27.1%. Non-GAAP operating income was $4.3 billion, up 3%, with non-GAAP operating margin at 33.6%.

Provision for Income Taxes -- The GAAP tax provision rate was 20.3%. The non-GAAP tax provision rate was 19.0%.

Net Income and EPS -- On a GAAP basis, net income was $2.9 billion, an increase of 3%, and EPS was $0.68, an increase of 5%. On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $3.5 billion, an increase of 4%, and EPS was $0.83, an increase of 5%.

Cash Flow from Operating Activities -- $3.9 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2021, a decrease of 8% compared with $4.2 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2020.

Balance Sheet and Other Financial Highlights

Cash and Cash Equivalents and Investments -- $23.6 billion at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2021, compared with $29.4 billion at the end of fiscal 2020.

Deferred Revenue -- $20.9 billion, up 12% in total, with deferred product revenue up 20%. Deferred service revenue was up 7%.

Remaining Performance Obligations -- $28.1 billion at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2021, up 10%.

Capital Allocation -- In the third quarter of fiscal 2021, we returned $2.1 billion to stockholders through share buybacks and dividends. We declared and paid a cash dividend of $0.37 per common share, or $1.6 billion, and repurchased approximately 10 million shares of common stock under our stock repurchase program at an average price of $48.71 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $510 million. The remaining authorized amount for stock repurchases under the program is $8.7 billion with no termination date.

Acquisitions

In the third quarter of fiscal 2021, we closed the following acquisitions:

• Acacia Communications, Inc., a public fabless semiconductor company that develops, manufactures and sells high-speed coherent optical interconnect products that are designed to transform communications networks through improvements in performance, capacity and cost.
• IMImobile PLC, a United Kingdom-based publicly-traded cloud communications software and services company.
• Dashbase, Inc., an enterprise software company.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, we closed the acquisition of Slido s.r.o, a privately held company that provides an audience interaction platform.

Guidance for Q4 FY 2021

Cisco expects to achieve the following results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021:

Cisco estimates that GAAP EPS will be $0.64 to $0.69 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021.

A reconciliation between the Guidance for Q4 FY 2021 on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis is provided in the table entitled "GAAP to non-GAAP Guidance for Q4 FY 2021" located in the section entitled "Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP Measures."

Source: https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=2161765