Happy Cisco Inadvertently Releases Good News

Some news you just can’t wait to share. Well, at least if it’s good news.

In what Cisco Systems, Inc. is characterizing as a “premature and inadvertent” memo to employees, the networking giant says it will exceed it second quarter goals. The early announcement 24 hours before its scheduled quarterly financial report — told employees that booked orders for the quarter ending Jan. 26 were $3.9 million, beating the company goal of $3.75 million.

The memo did not include specific information about revenues or earnings for the quarter but Larry Carter, Cisco’s chief financial officer, confirmed this morning that the company would, indeed, exceed its internal targets for the quarter ending Jan. 26.

“So as to minimize any potential confusion, the results we announce this afternoon will exceed the current consensus estimates of earnings per share and revenues for the second quarter of our fiscal year,” said Cisco Chief Financial Officer Larry Carter. “We felt it was necessary to disclose this information publicly, given the broad internal distribution of the communication.”

Analysts are predicting a profit of 5 cents a share and revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter. In early morning trading, Cisco stock was up 32 cents to $18.82 a share.