Comments on: Buy Cisco Systems (CSCO)

By: barbarita22

barbarita22 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:32:07 +0000

Jim,
The message I’m getting from you and others is that now is not the time to invest big in stocks for a long position. Yet your description of Cisco indicates that it’s buying into the next (long-term) trend. So, would you be planning to probably hold it through any drop in the market – no stop-losses? Thanks.

By: tljsnickers

tljsnickers — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:15:31 +0000

Nice to get a 5% return in one day. Makes that dividend seem rather unimportant. Actually CSCO’s dividend is pretty close to what I get from my Vanguard money market fund. Jim , do you have any thoughts on CSCO taking out a smaller competitor like Polycom(PLCM). Thanks.

By: cjxland

cjxland — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:25:41 +0000

Jim- I am most intrigued by the notion of CSCO as a sort of venture capital fund [with solid tech production and position and profits as icing on the cake.] In your book, you always mentioned an alternative fund or two for the one-shot challenged amongst us- could you get a column out of other companies that are putting their money to work in venture capitalism as Cisco is?

I too would much prefer to see a decent dividend from CSCO, but sometimes that dividend money is better put to work to produce a much higher long term ROR.

By: Jim Jubak

Jim Jubak — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:03:33 +0000

If you look at the chart for the entire NASDAQ, you’ll see pretty much the same pattern. After the 2000 crash the entire technology sector went no where. But this year, techs have been one of tghe strongest sectors since the March 9 low. Tech customers have done as little spending as they could over the last 5 years, which has led to quite a bit of pent up demand that I think we’ll see reflected in orders in 2010.

By: mgregg

mgregg — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:59:53 +0000

While I normally defer to the stock picking acumen of Mr. Jubak, I heartily disagree with the selection of Cisco. While a well-run company, they haven’t been able to break out of the 20’s range in the last 5 years (with the exception of a short stint in October around 30). Since there is no dividend, it’s an awful poor rate of return, well run or not. What strategy change has Cisco affected which will cause it to break out?