Cisco CEO sends strong message to investors about its future

Before the dot.com bust erupted in 2000, there was the dot.com boom of the late 1990s. Stocks jumped so high, so fast, and for so long that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan described the phenomenon as "irrational exuberance."

In the middle of all that froth was Cisco Systems  (CSCO) , whose shares soared from $1.20 at the end of 1994 before topping out at $80 in March 2000, just before a 2-for-1 stock split.