San Jose-based Cisco Systems Inc. topped analysts' profit estimates after curtailing hiring, shuttering offices and cutting travel. Cisco also said it would expand its stock buyback plan by $10 billion. First-quarter net income was $1.79 billion, or 30 cents a share, Cisco said. Excluding stock compensation and some other costs, profit was 36 cents, beating the 31 cents estimated by analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The company also predicted a rebound in sales in the current period after four straight quarters of declines. Cisco rose 87 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $24.16 in late trading after the results were released. The shares, up 43 percent this year, closed at $23.29 on the Nasdaq stock market. Revenue fell 13 percent to $9.02 billion in the period ended Oct. 24 from a year earlier. Analysts had estimated $8.74 billion. The company reported net income of $2.2 billion, or 37 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales will grow 1 percent to 4 percent this quarter from a year earlier, Cisco said on a conference call.

Oil

San Ramon-based Chevron Corp., the biggest U.S. oil company pumping Venezuelan oil, is willing to work in the South American country under contracts that ban international arbitration in case of conflict, a company executive said. "Attractive fiscal terms" are most important as the company decides on new projects, Ali Moshiri, president of Chevron Latin America and

Housing

Emeryville-based ZipRealty Inc., the online residential realty brokerage, announced a smaller loss and rising revenues for its third quarter of 2009. ZipRealty lost $800,000, or 4 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $1.7 million, or 8 cents a share. Revenues totaled $35.4 million, up 12.8 percent. Completed transactions totaled 6,557 in the third quarter, up 30.6 percent from a year ago.

Compiled from staff and wire reports. Got Bay Area business news? Reach Drew Voros at 925-943-8099 or dvoros@bayareanewsgroup.com.