.gif)
US networking giant Cisco on Wednesday posted better-than-expected quarterly results and said it expected to hire up to 3,000 new employees, less than a year after carrying out layoffs.
The San Jose, California-based maker of switches and routers for the Internet and wireless networks said its net profit rose 23 percent in the second quarter of its fiscal year to 1.9 billion dollars.
Earnings per share of 40 cents were better than the 35 cents per share forecast by Wall Street analysts.
Revenue grew eight percent to 9.8 billion dollars, well above the 9.41 billion dollars expected by analysts and far better than the one percent to four percent growth Cisco had forecast three months ago.
"Our outstanding Q2 results exceeded our expectations and we believe they provide a clear indication that we are entering the second phase of the economic recovery," Cisco chairman and chief executive John Chambers said.
"During the quarter we saw dramatic across the board acceleration and sequential improvement in our business in almost all areas," he said in a statement.
"We are confident that our aggressive strategy of investing in the business during the downturn and our focus on innovation, operational excellence, and productivity are driving our momentum and growth in the market."
Chambers added that Cisco was well positioned "as economies around the world continue to improve and our customers increase their technology investments."
In a conference call with analysts following the earnings release, he said he expects to "add 2,000 to 3,000 people to Cisco over the next several quarters."
"Given our belief that our market is beginning to accelerate, and our productivity growth of 17 percent in the second quarter, it's not a surprise to anyone that you'll see us grow our expenses at a faster pace," he said.
Cisco cut some 3,500 jobs between February and November and currently has 65,874 employees after rehiring some 2,000 people over the past three months.
Chambers said he expects third-quarter revenue to grow between 23 percent and 26 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago.
"We're clearly basing our forecasts on an optimistic forecast for the economy," he said. "If we get surprises we'll adjust."
Chambers also said Cisco would continue to be "very aggressive" with its partnership and acquisition strategies.
Cisco has been on a buying spree over the past year and the company said Wednesday that it had 39.6 billion dollars in cash and cash equivalents and investments on hand at the end of the second quarter.
In another second-quarter move, Cisco repurchased 63 million shares of common stock for a total of 1.5 billion dollars.
Cisco shares were 3.51 percent higher at 23.88 dollars in after-hours electronic trading.
