Investing.com -- Days after outgoing CEO John Chambers reaffirmed a decision to leave his post later this summer, Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) posted strong earnings on Wednesday for the quarter that ended in late-April.
Cisco posted third quarter revenue of $12.1 billion, a spike of 5% from the same period in 2014. Chambers, who joined a startup founded by Cisco in 1983, ascended to company CEO 12 years later in 1995. Chambers, 65, will be succeeded by Chuck Robbins, who previously served as the company's senior vice president of Worldwide Field Operations.
"I am extremely honored and proud to have led Cisco for the last 20 years and to get us to this positive inflection point. We have a tremendous opportunity to extend our lead in the industry, and with Chuck Robbins as the CEO for Cisco's next chapter, we have exactly the right leader to capture that opportunity. I could not be more confident in our future," Chambers said in a statement.
Cisco also reported net income of $2.44 billion for the quarter or 0.47 per share. By comparison, the Silicon Valley-based networking equipment company earned net income of $2.18 billion or 0.42 per share in the same quarter in 2014. Cisco credited a 6% increase in its switching systems division for the strong quarter.
"Cisco is in a very strong position and we delivered another solid quarter. Our vision and strategy are working and we are executing very well in a tough environment, as evidenced in our revenue growth, profitability, strong gross margins and cash generation. Our customers feel the pace of change and disruption in every industry and market, and know their success depends on digitizing their business," Chambers added.
"Whether they are the disruptor or the incumbent, they are coming to Cisco as their strategic partner. We believe we are pulling away from our competition using the same formula we've always used: integrating our industry-leading products in every category into architectures and solutions that deliver real outcomes. We've created this opportunity and it is ours to execute."
Shares in Cisco Systems fell slightly by 0.20 or 0.68% to 29.14. Cisco shares are still up by more than 25% over the last year.