Why Cisco's Dividend Boost Isn't Enough

Cisco's struggles aren't over yet. The networking giant saw its revenue shrink by 8% last quarter, and management sees the sales weakness persisting into this year. However, shareholders also got a bit of good news in Cisco's quarterly report: The company boosted its dividend by 12% to an annual pace of more than $1 billion.

In the video below, Fool contributor Demitrios Kalogeropoulos argues that, as impressive as it sounds, that dividend boost isn't enough to keep Cisco's payout on pace with other Dow giants like General Electric and IBM , which dedicated significantly more cash last year toward dividend payments. Cisco's payout ratio also lags the overall market and could stand to rise closer to GE's 55%, he says, which could happen through a scaling-back of Cisco's aggressive spending on share repurchases.

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The article Why Cisco's Dividend Boost Isn't Enough originally appeared on Fool.com.

Demitrios Kalogeropoulos has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Cisco Systems. The Motley Fool owns shares of General Electric Company and International Business Machines. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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