Don’t Pay that Dividend, Cisco

Cisco CEO John Chambers says the company eventually intends to pay a dividend. When? Nobody knows for sure. Chambers has always been the king of setting Wall Street’s expectations. Lately he’s very bullish about the unified communications opportunities heading Cisco’s way. Frankly, it would be hard to imagine Cisco paying a dividend in the near future. From where I sit, Cisco would be far wiser to acquire a bunch of small software companies that build out the networking giant’s unified communications strategy. Do what you do best, John: Acquire companies. Skip the dividend.