Cisco tops Q2 targets with $11.8 billion in revenue

Cisco Systems announced better-than-expected second quarter profit Wednesday, along with $15 billion in new buybacks which sent its shares trading sharply higher after market.

The networking giant reported a net income of $3.1 billion, or 62 cents per share (statement).

Non-GAAP earnings were 57 cents per share on a revenue of $11.8 billion, up two percent year-over-year.

Wall Street was looking for earnings of 54 cents per share with $11.76 billion in revenue.

For the current quarter, Wall Street is looking for non-GAAP earnings of 55 cents per share with $12.02 billion in revenue.

Cisco responded with a revenue guidance of growth between one percent and four percent year-over-year.

Cisco's projection on earnings per share falls in line with analyst estimates, with a forecast of 54 to 56 cents a share.

In prepared remarks, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins once again cited the challenges the company has faced in light of the macro economy. Nevertheless, Robbins touted Cisco's overall strategy.

"We're managing the company on two fronts," Robbins said. "We're focused on continued strong execution in the near term while investing in the innovation to lead our customers into the future."

Cisco closed a handful of acquisitions during the second quarter revolving around its video, data analytics and security services. Among them are U.K.-based consultancy firm Portcullis, cybersecurity firm Lancope, and ParStream, a German company with a database for analyzing and storing large data sets in real-time.

Just last week, Cisco bought Internet of Things firm Jasper Technologies in a $1.4 billion cash deal. The acquisition is set to give Cisco an enviable IoT stack as well as a recurring revenue cloud business model. The deal is expected close next quarter.