Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) posted profits and kept ahead of analysts' estimates with its first-quarter earnings, released Tuesday afternoon.

For its first quarter, which ended Oct. 28, Cisco reported net income of $2.1 billion, or 39 cents per share, on revenues of $11.9 billion. For the same quarter a year ago, Cisco reported net income of $2.3 billion, or 33 cents per share, on revenues of $11.3 billion.

Non-GAAP earnings of 48 cents per share beat analysts' expectations of 46 cents, as tallied by Thomson Reuters .

The numbers are good, but analysts will are skeptical that Cisco will deliver a very glowing second-quarter forecast. "It feels like enterprise spending softened during the month of September," wrote Jefferies & Co. Inc. analyst George Notter in a note published Monday.

Orders stabilized during the first quarter but probably "did not improve as management's upbeat tone and guidance on last quarter's conference call suggested they might," wrote analyst Mike Genovese of MKM Partners in a report last week.

Cisco will give its second-quarter predictions on its earnings call later Tuesday afternoon.

— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor, Light Reading