EARNINGS ROUNDUP / CISCO SYSTEMS

Cisco Systems Inc. said earnings fell 21% in its latest quarter, but the profit comfortably beat Wall Street expectations amid signs that the market is stabilizing.

Chief Executive John Chambers said that customers were “finally seeing something reasonably solid underneath their feet,” and that the company itself had seen order rates possibly bottom out.

The world’s largest maker of computer networking gear posted a profit of $1.3 billion, or 23 cents a share, for the fiscal third quarter that ended April 25. That was down from $1.8 billion, or 29 cents, in the same quarter last year.

Excluding the cost of stock-based compensation and other items, Cisco’s earnings were 30 cents a share, 5 cents above the average forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Sales for the San Jose company fell 17% to $8.2 billion. Analysts had expected sales of $8.1 billion.

Cisco shares fell 2 cents to $19.61 before the release of earnings results and climbed 43 cents in after-hours trading.