By Richard Saintvilus

It amazes me that Wall Street still does not fully appreciate the turnaround story that is networking giant Cisco (CSCO). Even more disappointing, many analysts do not really seek to understand, but instead carry on the notion that they've got it all figured out.

I will concede that Cisco has indeed made more than its shares of mistakes -- some of which have allowed newcomers like F5 (FFIV) and Riverbed (RVBD) to encroach on its territory and steal some market share. For this, it is clear that Wall Street still carries a grudge. But leading into the company's fiscal third-quarter results and coming on the heels of three consecutive earnings beats, I was optimistic in thinking that it was time to let bygones be bygones. Investors had different ideas.

The company reported net income of $2.2 billion or 40 cents per share on revenue of $11.6 billion -- topping net income of $1.8 billion or 33 cents per share for the same period last year. According to estimates, analysts had expected $11.58 billion in revenue. The major concerns for Cisco have always been its ability to execute effectively in the face of economic weakness.

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For me, the report served to alleviate these worries as the company demonstrated it is moving in the right direction. But the market saw things a bit differently.

While dismissing the company's current performance, investors latched on to its guidance. The company said that fourth-quarter earnings expectations were going to arrive in the range of 44 cents to 46 cents per share on revenue growth of 2.5%.

Far from terrible, the estimates are slightly below analysts' projections of 49 cents per share and 7% growth in revenue. As a result, the stock was punished to the tune of an 8% drop in after-hours trading. This is an overreaction to a string of performances that have been absolutely solid.

As an investor I have to appreciate that the company's conservative approach to guidance is absolutely the best play right here for a stock that is highly exposed to the uncertainties of Europe. From that standpoint, management has gotten it right.

What continues to be a disappointment is the finicky reaction from investors who are quick to dismiss Cisco's strong fundamental standing and market lead -- one where it continues to outperform in some of the largest areas over its top rivals in Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Juniper (JNPR).

Cisco still owns over 60% share in the all-important switching business and over 50% in routing. There isn't another competitor that comes close. Granted it is clear that from the earnings report that those businesses are no longer growing as investors would like but, as I have said recently, this area of Cisco's business is just about to heat up. A recent study suggests that bandwidth for increased data will soon come at a premium and there will be no other company better positioned to capitalize on that growth than Cisco.

Having said that, I will admit the company does have some important areas of its business that it needs to fix -- areas such as data center fabric switching where it has lagged behind Brocade (BRCD) or key growth areas like WAN optimization, where both F5 and Riverbed fare moderately better.