Cisco Systems Inc. Chief Executive Officer John Chambers said he is “very comfortable” with the company’s long-term forecast of 12 percent to 17 percent annual sales growth in a normal economy.

“The odds of us achieving this are pretty good,” Chambers, 59, said today at a Credit Suisse AG conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. He didn’t explain what he means by a normal economy.

Cisco, the world’s biggest networking-gear maker, will benefit as consumers download more movies and companies use videoconferencing to reduce business travel, Chambers said. Last month, Cisco forecast its first quarterly sales drop in five years as customers curbed orders to cope with the economic slump.

Companies are holding back spending because they don’t know when the slowdown will end, Chambers said today. During the recession, Cisco plans to be “extremely aggressive” in building new businesses and buying smaller companies, he said, adding there are no plans to cut jobs.

Cisco, based in San Jose, California, rose 69 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $16.01 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have fallen 41 percent this year.

Fiscal second-quarter sales will drop as much as 10 percent to about $8.85 billion, the company said last month.

Source:Bloomberg