Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) posted a slightly stronger than expected profit in its third quarter on Tuesday, with net income rising 35 percent on acquisitions and stronger sales to corporate customers, however shares fell more than 5 percent in after hours trading.

The world's largest network equipment maker saw sales jump for the quarter, helped by the acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta.

The San Jose, Calif.-based firm reported net income of $1.9 billion, or 30 cents a share, compared with $1.4 billion, or 22 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Cisco also said its enterprise installed base of wireless access points reached 4 million, driven by increased enterprise demand for mobility services and channel sales.

Our success is based on the ability to foresee market transitions, which has enabled us to deliver the right products for today's market opportunities and prepares us to take advantage of new opportunities in the future, said John Chambers, Cisco's chairman and CEO.

Revenue was $8.87 billion, which is 21 percent more than $7.32 billion earned last year. The numbers were above its own estimates given earlier in the quarter of $8.7 billion to $8.8 billion.

The newly acquired Scientific-Atlanta contributed $752 million in sales for the quarter, compared with $407 million a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, were looking for earnings of 33 cents per share on sales of $8.76 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

Shares of the firm fell $1.61, or 5.68 percent in after hours trading.

The quarter included a number of major acquisitions, including the purchase online meeting company WebEx Communications Inc. for about $3.2 billion in cash. The $57 per share Cisco offered was a 23 percent premium over WebEx's closing stock price the day before the deal was announced.

It also completed the acquisitions of Five Across, Inc., Reactivity, Inc., NeoPath Networks, Inc. and SpansLogic, Inc, as well as others.

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