Tech behemoth and Dow component Cisco Systems (CSCO - Analyst Report) reported earnings results after the bell Wednesday, and met earnings estimates once again. Cisco brought in 48 cents per share (accounting for stock-based compensation) on fiscal Q3 revenues of $12.14 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimates expected 48 cents per share and $12.06 billion in sales.

In additional to Cisco's perpetual beat of bottom-line estimates, the company has also produced 5 straight revenue beats. Its fiscal Q3 2015 revenues were up 5 percent year over year, and even rose above the high-end of Cisco's guidance of $12.12 billion. Also, gross margin of 62.5 percent topped the 61-62 percent in previous guidance, so it looks as if pricing is firming up in Cisco's businesses.

Forthcoming guidance will wait for the upcoming conference call, which will be the last for retiring CEO John Chambers. He will be replaces by Chuck Robbins going forward. Chambers' tenure of 20+ years at the helm have been remarkably successful, with 5 stock splits and entering into a dividend-issuing program for the company beginning in 2011. The routers and switchers firm blossomed in the tech boom of the turn of the century, and made Chambers a billionaire.

Thus far in the new phase of tech business, Cisco has proven itself adept at keeping up with cloud-based solutions, especially in comparison to long-time competitors such as IBM (IBM - Analyst Report). Though the company may see mega-scale cloud companies pose a threat to Cisco's business going forward, the company has sought partnering solutions with companies like Facebook (FB- Analyst Report) and FireEye (FEYE - Snapshot Report) to remain astride the biggest growth trends in tech.

Analysts typically do not adjust earnings estimates with Cisco during the course of the quarter; Cisco's Earnings ESP was 0 percent and the company retained a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) before the earnings report. Shares are trading slightly down in the after-market but prior to the call. Over the last month, CSCO shares are up roughly 5 percent, and the company has gained over 27 percent year over year.