Stocks trade on a multiple of earnings which is generally related to the earnings growth rate of the company. There's a little more to it than that but a benchm

Stocks trade on a multiple of earnings which is generally related to the earnings growth rate of the company. There's a little more to it than that but a benchmark is PE:EarningsGrowth% of 1:1 (20x PE to 20% earnings growth. Yes I know the units are wrong. Investors are not mathemeticians and this is from one of the famous ones.) So, it is sufficient that Cisco not grow at rates investors expect, current quarter and next quarter, to disappoint them. If the company were shrinking or in negative growth the stock would be a lot lower.