Don't Extrapolate Slower Growth

This view my Richard Berner of Morgan Stanley goes a long way to back up the statements of CSCO CEO John Chambers on their earnings call last night. Though everybody chose to hark on the comments about slowdowns in June and concerned customers, he actually stated that July picked up big time. In fact, CSCO plans to hire another 3K people this year bringing the yearly increase to nearly 10%. Now is that suggestive of a company concerned about a meaningful slowdown or somebody just providing a conservative outlook? You be the judge, but the latter is much more likely. And really were you surprised that CSCO talked about a temporary slowdown in June? Seriously people!