U.S. Dollar Likely A Headwind For Cisco Systems Ahead Of Earnings

Rod Hall of JPMorgan on Wednesday commented in a note that

will likely report a "typical" one cent to two cent earnings per share beat when it reports its second quarter results on Wednesday after market close. Despite a projected earnings beat, the analyst notes that the strong U.S. dollar will likely prove to be a headwind. "We calculate Cisco to have generated approximately 46 percent of its total revenue outside the U.S. in FQ1'15," Hall wrote. "Although all Cisco revenues are USD denominated, we are concerned that strong USD may impact its gross margins in the form of higher discounts." In addition, Hall expects Cisco to comment "cautiously" on Brazil, Mexico, Russia and China with upbeat commentary on India. Nevertheless, Cisco is likely to report strong growth in its switching revenue driven by an ongoing 10G upgrade cycle in enterprises and partially due to easier comps for the second quarter. Moreover, the routing environment remains better than expected and could benefit Cisco. Hall estimates Cisco will report total products revenue of $9.123 billion and total services revenue of $2.646 billion for a total net revenue of $11.769 billion. The analyst is also projecting a gross margin rate of 61.6 percent, operating expenses of $3.952 billion, EBIT margin of 28.0 percent and earnings per share of $0.51. Shares remain Underweight rated with a $17 price target.