Update Cisco Systems (CSCO)

Ever since this recession began Cisco Systems (CSCO) CEO John Chambers has shown an unexpected talent for taking all the joy out of his company’s earnings report.

And he did it again when, on August 5, Cisco Systems reported earnings of 31 cents a share for the company’s fiscal fourth quarter that ended on July 25.

 That beat Wall Street estimates by two cents a share. (Both Cisco’s and Wall Street’s numbers exclude things like stock compensation that I think should be deducted as costs but, hey, that’s how Wall Street scores the quarterly earnings game.) Revenue did fall 18% from the fiscal fourth quarter of 2008, but still beat Wall Street estimates of $8.51 billion by about $300 million. Gross margins held steady at 64%.

But investors who might have hoped that Chambers would call this quarter the bottom or forecast a looming turnaround would have been disappointed. Read more