Cisco sales up

Cisco Systems’ forecast for the first half of the current fiscal year showed signs of a pullback in customer spending. It reported a 4% increase in quarterly profit, beating analysts' expectations, but signaled that the weak economy would affect results in the next few quarters.

The world's largest maker of computer networking equipment said it earned $2.01 billion, in the three months that ended July 25, its fiscal fourth quarter. Sales rose 10% to $10.4 billion.Chief Financial Officer Frank Calderoni said the results, coming in "a quarter of somewhat uncertain macroeconomic condition." Chief Executive John Chambers predicted revenue growth of 8.5%, pointing to sales of $10.7 billion.