Can someone get an interpreter for John Chambers?
Maybe it's that West Virginia drawl. But for some reason, the financial movers and shakers on Wall Street need an interpreter each time Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers begins to talk.
On Tuesday, investors became euphoric after Chambers repeated his earlier forecast for Cisco's long-term growth rate.
Read my lips: The sky's not falling.
(Credit: Cisco)In case you missed it, these same folks nearly jumped out the window when Chambers said the exact thing February 6 after Cisco reported its fiscal third quarter.
The big "news" on Tuesday is that Cisco's chief, appearing at the Morgan Stanley Tech Conference, said he was "even more comfortable" with the previous guidance. At the same time, Chambers said any downturn would likely last no longer than three quarters.
Considering the nervous state of the market, that was the equivalent of manna from heaven. After reports of Chambers' comments spread, the Dow and the Nasdaq clawed back substantially from what, at one point, was a 2.7 percent decline.
The thing about Chambers is that his words carry enormous weight. Because Cisco sells networking communications equipment into the heart of the IT world, you figure that Chambers will know which way the wind is blowing even before the weatherman. (That was the case before the Internet bubble burst in 2000, and a lot of weary investors probably hope it's the case as well today.) You may recall that people started to freak out after Chambers cautioned in November that demand was likely to be "lumpy" for the technology sector. Then in February, he pegged Cisco's long-term annual growth rate at somewhere between 12 percent and 17 percent. The sell-off which followed was a nervous tantrum reacting to Cisco cutting third-quarter guidance to 10 percent growth, down from the expected 15 percent.
Best of times, it clearly isn't. But judging from the carnage in the trading pits, you'd think this was also the worst of times. Is it, really?
Charles Cooper has covered technology and business for more than 25 years. Before joining CNET News, he worked at the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie. 
