I think that CSCO's (and FRE) smoke and mirrors are in a very different class, call it "managing" earnings (taking a whooping one time charge against inventory and then bleeding these charges back in over few intrinsically weak quarters). They know their business and their telecom customers and saw the writing on the wall. Not that that foresight justifies what they did (just as understatement of prior years earnings at FRE in preparation for future years declines in mortgage activities and bleeding these extra profits later as the aborted plan was), but at least CSCO's balance sheet is real with very little (relatively) goodwill and "intangible assets". No debt to speak off, no problems of debt service coverage and gross profits margins that are the envy of any outfit, even a stellar company like INTC.
Zeev
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