All I know is that I despise Cisco for their stupid advertising campaigns showing smiling third world children and playing god-awful Americanized third world music.
considering that it's in the top 6 weight contributors to the nasdaq 100, I would think that would have some impact (regardless of whether they are hot or not).
since Cisco's business is heavily influenced by IT spending, it is considered a bellwether for the technology sector. i don't think its earnings matter to say, McDonalds or Walmart, but it does for chip, software, computer, etc companeis.
I'm just looking at the YTD on CSCO. And I bet it opens around 24.30, and tanks somewhere to 23 before coming back after a couple days...if they're lucky. Chart is going from Top Left to bottom right. Bear Market rally.
I think CSCO actually matter a lot more now than a few years ago. It certianly doesn't have the effect it had back in the dot.com boom, but I think it was responsible for rallying the Nas today.