Cisco Shares Rise After Better 2Q Sales Forecast

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Cisco Systems Inc. jumped Thursday after the world's largest networking gear maker forecast better-than-expected revenue for the current quarter, signaling that a recovery is under way for the technology sector.

Cisco expects revenue to grow 1 percent to 4 percent in the fiscal second quarter, which ends in January. This translates to sales of $9.2 billion to $9.5 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are expecting sales of $8.97 billion.

Cisco urged caution, however, and said the pace of order improvement is still slow, with a lot of uncertainty about the economy.

Nonetheless, investors sent the San Jose, Calif., company's shares up 44 cents to $23.73 in late morning trading, rising as much as 3.3 percent earlier in the session on heavier-than-normal volume.

Jefferies & Co. analyst William Choi said Cisco is "clearly seeing an upturn in its business with orders and revenues returning to normal pattern." He kept a "Buy" rating on the company's shares. The company, he added, is seeing solid demand for new products.