Cisco's Profits: Five Trends Worth Watching

Wall Street has high hopes for Cisco Systems' latest quarterly results, which are slated to be announced November 7. But even if you aren't a shareholder, there are five key pieces of information that Cisco customers and partners should listen for during the earnings call. Here's the rundown.

1. TelePresence Sales: Some people consider TelePresence a next-generation video conferencing technology. That description doesn't fully capture the power of TelePresence, which I've witnessed firsthand. Still, TelePresence deployments can be expensive -- up to $300,000 per conference room. And at present, TelePresence doesn't support IP conferencing between companies. I wonder if Cisco CEO John Chambers will set Wall Street's expectations in terms of TelePresence's short- and long-term revenue potential.

2. Unified Communications: Microsoft finally has an alternative in the market that seeks to leapfrog Cisco's unified solutions. However, Chambers has said that Cisco has a three-year lead over Microsoft in the unified market. Is Cisco maintaining, extending or losing that lead? I'll be all ears during the earnings call.

3. Software Partnerships: Cisco knows it needs more software partners that are willing to write applications for unified networks. Companies like Salesforce.com and SAP are lending a hand. But I'd like to see a few big open source partners on Cisco's partner list. I'll blog more about that later this week.

4. WebEx: Watch for Cisco to strongly reinforce the value and momentum of the recent WebEx acquisition. And it's a safe bet that Cisco will also leverage WebEx's software partnerships in the months ahead.

5. Web 2.0 Rivals: Chambers has made some interesting statements about Cisco's evolving list of rivals. Instead of traditional networking companies, he has even mentioned Google as a potential long-term rival.

Overall, it's safe to expect Chambers to be bullish on the call. I'm not a stock analyst. Nor do I own Cisco shares. But some Wall Street pundits like EarningsWhispers.com think Cisco will beat its earnings expectations by 3 cents per share. We'll have some answers on November 7.