NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – General Motors Inc’s decision to stop advertising on Facebook may be a wake-up call for the No. 1 social network, but Top advertising executives say it’s far too early to know if the site will take off as an advertising platform.

“There’s a lot of potential but it’s not a slam-dunk,” said Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Plc, the world’s largest advertising agency.

“Showing the impact of branding on Facebook is going to take a long time,” he added.

Facebook is due to begin trading on Nasdaq on Friday in an initial public offering that will raise about $15.2 billion, the biggest ever from Silicon Valley. With almost a billion users, Facebook generated nearly $4 billion in revenue last year, mostly from advertising.

News on Tuesday that GM, the third largest advertiser in the United States, was pulling back from Facebook raised questions about whether ads on the social network are really more effective than on traditional media.

In addition, the company last month reported its first quarter-to-quarter revenue slide in at least two years.

“For GM, advertising on Facebook is the equivalent of hanging up posters in a high school … why would anyone stop to look at the posters when they are congregating, talking in the hall?” Russ Lange, co-founder of marketing consultancy CMG Partners said.

By Nicola Leske

(Reuters) – Huawei’s head of North America, John Roese, said his company is more than ready to take on larger rival Cisco Systems but noted it will take some patience — and time.

“The U.S. is by far our most complex market … for us our entrance into the U.S. is similar to a western company entering China,” Roese said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of IT infrastructure conference Interop in Las Vegas.

For a decade, China-based Huawei with U.S. headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif. has been selling infrastructure to U.S. telecom operators. It sells routers and switches that move data through networks and devices such as modems and smartphones, but now it aims to provide equipment to large businesses, a market dominated by Cisco Systems.

Huawei in September of last year launched its enterprise unit and aims to generate $15 billion worldwide in revenue by 2015. This year it expects its deals to total more than $7 billion worldwide.

The enterprise unit provides equipment such as hubs, routers and switches that run networks transferring data across corporations.

“We basically said it will take a few years to get to critical mass but the U.S. is not critical to our revenue objective,” Roese said.

By Nicola Leske

(Reuters) – As a cautious outlook from Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) pummels shares of the network equipment maker and its peers, it might be time to go bargain hunting.

Even as Cisco warned that technology spending by companies could be hurt by concerns about Europe, analysts say there is room for optimism. Pointing to last year’s experience, some say tech spending may rebound in the second half, potentially boosting equipment makers shares again.

Morgan Stanley is advising its clients to start making bets in anticipation of a pickup in tech spending. Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Gelblum recommends F5 Networks Inc (FFIV.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), in addition to Cisco.

“In our sector upgrade last month, we called for this round of earnings to mark the last round of negative earnings revisions before an improvement in 2H,” Gelblum said.

Research firm IDC forecast global spending on technology to grow 5.9 percent this year, after climbing 6.4 percent in 2011.

“We still think we are not going to lurch into an economic downturn,” said IDC analyst Stephen Minton.

By Nicola Leske

(Reuters) – As a cautious outlook from Cisco Systems Inc pummels shares of the network equipment maker and its peers, it might be time to go bargain hunting.

Even as Cisco warned that technology spending by companies could be hurt by concerns about Europe, analysts say there is room for optimism. Pointing to last year’s experience, some say tech spending may rebound in the second half, potentially boosting equipment makers shares again.

Morgan Stanley is advising its clients to start making bets in anticipation of a pickup in tech spending. Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Gelblum recommends F5 Networks Inc and Qualcomm Inc, in addition to Cisco.

“In our sector upgrade last month, we called for this round of earnings to mark the last round of negative earnings revisions before an improvement in 2H,” Gelblum said.

Research firm IDC forecast global spending on technology to grow 6.5 percent this year, after climbing 5 percent in 2011.

“We still think we are not going to lurch into an economic downturn,” said IDC analyst Stephen Minton.

May 10 (Reuters) – As a cautious outlook from Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) pummels shares of the network equipment maker and its peers, it might be time to go bargain hunting.

Even as Cisco warned that technology spending by companies could be hurt by concerns about Europe, analysts say there is room for optimism. Pointing to last year’s experience, some say tech spending may rebound in the second half, potentially boosting equipment makers shares again.

Morgan Stanley is advising its clients to start making bets in anticipation of a pickup in tech spending. Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Gelblum recommends F5 Networks Inc (FFIV.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile, Research), in addition to Cisco.

“In our sector upgrade last month, we called for this round of earnings to mark the last round of negative earnings revisions before an improvement in 2H,” Gelblum said.

Research firm IDC forecast global spending on technology to grow 6.5 percent this year, after climbing 5 percent in 2011.

“We still think we are not going to lurch into an economic downturn,” said IDC analyst Stephen Minton.

That type of optimism kept Cisco’s cautious forecast from causing shares across the broad technology sector to tank, even as the company’s own shares fell more than 10 percent.

By Nicola Leske

(Reuters) – Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) forecast quarterly earnings below Wall Street’s expectations, accentuating concerns about global technology spending and the network equipment maker’s ability to weather persistent economic weakness.

Shares in the company, which relies on government and corporate spending on Internet gear, slid more than 8 percent after hours, despite beating analysts’ third-quarter earnings estimates by a penny.

The company, which Chief Executive John Chambers a year ago admitted had “lost its way” after several quarters of sub-par growth, forecast revenue growth of 2 to 5 percent in the fourth quarter.

That translates into revenue of about $11.4 billion to almost $11.8 billion this quarter, lagging Wall Street’s average forecast of $12 billion.

Cisco also estimated earnings of 44 to 46 cents a share, excluding items, in the fiscal fourth quarter ending in July. Wall Street analysts had on average expected 49 cents a share.

Chambers acknowledged that it was “really hard to read” what would happen in the second half the year but added that customers have said their plans were to spend more in that period.

By Nicola Leske

(Reuters) – Cisco Systems Inc beat quarterly earnings estimates, allaying some concerns about global technology spending even as questions remained about the network equipment maker’s ability to weather economic weakness.

The company, whose Chief Executive John Chambers last year stunned investors by admitting it had “lost its way,” posted a 5 percent jump in revenue from its core business of network switching in its fiscal third quarter.

But analysts warned that technology spending by enterprises and governments remained weak, with European and U.S. economies still on shaky ground.

Shares in Cisco slid to $17.20 in extended trading from a close of $18.78 on Nasdaq.

“It’s not too shabby, considering the choppy environment we are in,” said Mark Sue, analyst at RBC Capital Market. “Still, the global macro storm clouds are gathering and it remains to be seen if Cisco can use its new-found execution prowess to navigate this difficult environment.”

Total revenue rose 6.6 percent from the year-ago quarter to $11.59 billion, compared with a Street view of $11.58 billion, the company said on Wednesday.

By Nicola Leske

(Reuters) – Software maker Symantec Corp rattled investors on Tuesday with lower quarterly targets, raising concerns over sales execution and sending its shares down more than 11 percent.

Symantec stock plunged 11.5 percent to $15.98 on Tuesday after closing at $18.07 on Monday.

The company, best known for its Norton anti-virus product, is in the midst of shifting its business to a more predictable subscription-based model away from selling licenses.

Symantec cited fewer large deals compared with the previous year as a reason for cutting its fourth quarter profit target to about 38 cents per share, down from its previous forecast of 41 cents to 42 cents per share.

It said revenue would be lower at about $1.68 billion compared with its previous outlook of $1.72 billion to $1.73 billion.

The news surprised investors as Symantec is due to report final earnings on May 2.

By Nicola Leske

(Reuters) – IBM’s revenue fell slightly short of Wall Street expectations, sending its shares down almost 2 percent in late trade even as the company beat quarterly profit expectations and boosted its 2012 earnings target on strong software demand.

International Business Machines, whose shares had closed up 2 percent on Tuesday, reported revenue of $24.7 billion — flat with the previous year and below analyst expectations for $24.78 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company, which has been shifting its focus from hardware to higher-margin services and software over the past decade, raised its full year target to at least $15 adjusted earnings per share on strong demand for its software services and growth in emerging markets.

Analysts had on average anticipated $14.94. IBM’s previous target was for at least $14.85.

Despite the share reaction, some investors were heartened by the strong guidance for the full year and IBM’s profit growth.

“I think the stock was priced for perfection,” said ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall. “Revenue was a little light relative to expectations. They did a good job on the bottom line. The guidance was good.”

By Nicola Leske

(Reuters) – Telecom equipment maker Avaya Corp said it had signed a multimillion-dollar five-year contract to build call centers for India’s leading telecom company, Bharti Airtel (BRTI.NS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), in Asia and Africa.

“It is the largest deal we have ever done,” Ed Nalbandian, head of Avaya’s managed services and contact center solutions, said on Monday but declined to divulge financial details.

Previously, the largest deal Avaya had in the global contact center space was $75 million with a manufacturing company.

Avaya signed the deal in March, Nalbandian added.

The two companies have been working together on call centers in India for a number of years, but with the new deal Avaya will also implement its technology for Airtel in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and 18 African countries.

“Getting into Africa is a big deal for them and they want to differentiate themselves there,” Nalbandian said.