NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Cisco Systems' higher-than-expected earnings failed to satisfy investors on Wednesday, but Pixar Animation's quarterly results impressed Wall Street after the closing bell.

The film animation studio said it posted soaring fourth-quarter earnings as DVDs of its computer animated hit "Finding Nemo" flew off the shelves and the movie continued to draw crowds in theaters internationally.

Pixar (PIXR: Research, Estimates) said fourth-quarter net income rose to $1.44 a share, compared to 31 cents from the year-ago quarter. Wall Street analysts on average had expected $1.27 per share in the quarter, according to Reuters Research.

Last week, the San Francisco bay area studio said it was looking for a new distributor starting in 2006 after ending talks with current partner Walt Disney Co. (DIS: Research, Estimates), but Pixar did not comment in its earnings release on its search for a new partner.

Shares of Pixar traded at around $63.51 in after-hours trading on Instinet after a close of $63.54 on Nasdaq, where they lost 1 percent in regular trade.

In other after-hours news, Medtronic (MDT: Research, Estimates), the world's largest medical device maker, cut its quarterly revenue expectations, citing slower-than-expected sales growth of implanted defibrillators.

Shares of Medtronic fell to $49.75 on the Instinet electronic brokerage system from their close at $52.00 in regular Nasdaq trade.

Separately, Acxiom (ACXM: Research, Estimates) said after the closing that its board of directors declared its first quarterly cash dividend, citing strong cash flow.

The dividend of 4 cents per share is payable on March 8 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Feb. 16, the Little Rock, Ark., computer marketing and database company said in a news release.

Acxiom stock rose 6 cents to $18.70 on the news in after-hours trading.

Cisco's cautious comments regarding corporate spending on its Internet routing equipment punctured market optimism, especially the technology sector, on Wednesday.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in. Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions. Manage alerts | What is this?

The news drove the technology-dominated Nasdaq composite index 52.07 points, or 2.5 percent, lower to 2,014.14, its biggest dip since Sept. 24.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 34.44 points, or 0.3 percent, to 10,470.74, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index ended down 9.51 points, or 0.84 percent, at 1,126.52.

Earnings reports scheduled for release on Thursday will include ones from EDS (EDS: Research, Estimates), Alcatel (ALA: Research, Estimates), Devon Energy (DVN: Research, Estimates), PepsiCo (PEP: Research, Estimates) and John Hancock (JHF: Research, Estimates).

Investors will also keep an eye on some big-name earnings due on Friday: Cigna (CI: Research, Estimates) and Ericsson (ERICY: Research, Estimates).