IT rebounds as Nvidia, Cisco shares rise

With Nvidia and Cisco reporting results, there was some good news on the chip and networking front this week that, with the help of a successful debt offering by Italy that eased economic concerns, helped fuel a rise in IT vendors' shares Friday morning.

The brains behind many smart phones

"Nvidia is the brains behind many smart phones," noted analyst Jeff Kagan in email. "Nvidia looks like they are in the right place with their growing mobile computing business. It is the engine behind a young and growing revolution in the industry with smart phones, tablets and automotive information and entertainment systems."

Cisco, considered an IT bellwether because its networking products are central to corporate IS operations, posted revenues of $2.3 billion, or $0.43 per share, for the three months ended Oct. 29. This was a decline from its year-previously profit of $2.4 billion, or $0.42 per share. However revenue rose 4.7 percent year-over-year to $11.3 billion.

The results beat the forecasts of analysts surveyed

The results beat the forecasts of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who were looking for revenues of $0.39 a share and on sales revenue of $11.03 billion

Cisco offered guidance for the current quarter that, on the upper end, is greater than what market watchers have been expecting. The company forecast profit of $0.42 to $0.44 per share on revenue of $11.13 billion to $11.23 billion. Analysts on average expected $0.42 per share on revenue of $11.14 billion.