Analysts were expecting Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) to report upbeat third-quarter earnings, and the company didn't disappoint.

The third quarter, which ended May 1, happened to have an extra week in it -- an anomaly that pops up every five or six years, CEO John Chambers said on the company's earnings call this afternoon.

Even so, Chambers called it "the strongest across-the-board quarter in our history" and said it validated his contention that Cisco could exploit a recession to strengthen its position.

"We emerged from this downturn gaining market share, a larger share of the total wallet spend of our customers, dramatically improved customer relations as a trusted technology and business partner, and having next-generation products in almost every product category," he said.

Table 1: Cisco Q3 Results

Coming off an admittedly weak year, order growth was 25 percent or better from the previous year in every sector -- routers, switches, advanced technologies, and consumer products. Overall, Cisco officials said they expect fiscal 2010, which ends in July, to see sales 25 to 28 percent higher than fiscal 2009.

Analysts had expected non-GAAP earnings per share of 39 cents; Cisco reported 42 cents.

Now the punchline: Analysts had warned that Cisco's stock might not react well even to good news, with investors having already built up expectations for a blowout quarter. It looks as if that's happening: Cisco shares were down 29 cents (1%) at $26.55 in early after-hours trading.

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading