NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Cisco Systems Inc. reported a sharply higher profit for the latest quarter Tuesday, topping forecasts on Wall Street, as sales jumped nearly 12 percent.

At the same time, executives of the No. 1 supplier of the gear that links computer networks and powers the Internet provided a somewhat cautious outlook for the current quarter, forecasting only modest revenue growth at best.

During a conference call with analysts Tuesday evening, Cisco CEO John Chambers said he is more optimistic about what the company will be able to accomplish internally than he was going into the company's fiscal fourth quarter. But externally, "customers are a little more cautious," Chambers said.

Earlier Tuesday, Cisco reported earnings, excluding one-time charges and other items, of 14 cents a share for the quarter ended July 27, up from 2 cents a share a year earlier.

Industry analysts had forecast a profit of 12 cents a share for the company's fiscal fourth quarter, according to a survey conducted by First Call.

Including acquisition-related and other charges, Cisco reported net income of $772 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with net income of $7 million a year earlier.

Sales rose 11.6 percent, to $4.8 billion from $4.3 billion.

Along with most of its competitors, Cisco's stock has been pressured in recent months amid a protracted downturn in spending on telecom and data-networking equipment, especially by service providers.

More recently, the stock has been pressured by rumors that Chambers and Chief Financial Officer Larry Carter will soon announce their resignations.

Rumors also have been swirling that the company's top executives would not certify its financials by the Securities and Exchange Commission's deadline, which for Cisco is in October.

Cisco has denied the rumors, and on Tuesday's conference call, Chambers said, "We have no hesitation, whatsoever, about signing this certification." Carter said the certification will be filed on time in tandem with Cisco's annual report in October.

As for the rumors about resignations, Chambers confirmed that Carter plans to retire next May when he reaches his 60th birthday. When Carter steps down, Dennis Powell, vice president of corporate finance, will replace him, Chamber said.

He did not mention anything about his own future employment plans.

Looking ahead, Chambers said Cisco is aiming for fiscal first-quarter revenue that is "flat to up slightly" from the $4.8 billion it just reported in the fiscal fourth.

By First Call's count, analysts recently had been looking for first-quarter revenue of roughly $4.98 billion, suggesting a 3.8 percent sequential increase.

Along with most of its competitors, Cisco's stock has been pressured in recent months amid a protracted downturn in spending on telecom and data-networking equipment, especially by service providers.

Shares of Cisco (CSCO: Research, Estimates) have fallen from a high of $21 this year. The stock rose 6.3 percent on Nasdaq ahead of Tuesday's earnings report and added 96 cents to $13.03 in after-hours trading.

The stock was especially pressured over the past two weeks as the rumors about the possible missed deadline for certification and the executive resignations intensified.

The certification rumors may have been linked to the billions of dollars in write-downs that Cisco took last year, and in prior years, mainly for worthless equipment inventory which piles up as demand remains weak, boosting profit margins.

Cisco has also written off acquisitions of other companies whose values gave dropped drastically.

During Tuesday's call, Chambers and Carter defended the company's accounting practices, which have come under increased scrutiny amid a growing number of corporate accounting scandals.

Additionally, Chambers said the company does not plan to report stock options as compensation expenses.

Several U.S. companies -- including General Motors, General Electric and Procter & Gamble -- recently have decided to account for options as a compensation expense -- a standard endorsed by consumer groups, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and others. The idea is that by expensing stock options, investors will get a clearer picture of the company's financial standing.

Chambers said that the expensing of options -- regardless of the form or methodology used -- is neither accurate nor easier to understand. He said Cisco will provide the estimated expense of granting options to its employees in footnotes to its financial filings.

Calling for a "cautious direct approach" to the issue of how to account for stock options in terms of companies' financial reports, Chambers said he had "strong opinions" about the issue.

Also on Tuesday, Cisco said its board of directors has increased the company's stock buyback program to as much as $8 billion, up from $3 billion authorized last September. Roughly $2 billion in stock has been bought back to date, the company said.