Cloud networking company Arista Networks Inc. today beat expectations with its fiscal first-quarter earnings report despite seeing its revenue decline steeply from a year ago.

The company reported a profit before certain cost such as stock compensation of $2.01 per share on revenue of $523 million, down 12% from the same period a year ago. That was still well ahead of Wall Street’s forecast, though, with analysts having pegged the company’s adjusted profit at $1.81 per share on revenue of $517.8 million.

Arista Networks has emerged as a serious challenger to networking giant Cisco Systems Inc in recent years. The company builds network switches that handle traffic at massive “hyperscale” data centers owned by web giants such as Facebook Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

During the quarter just gone, Arista acquired the software-defined networking startup Big Switch Networks Inc. for an undisclosed price. The company said it plans to use Big Switch’s network monitoring tools to enhance the EOS operating system that powers its switches. In particular, it will expand the capabilities of the software’s existing CloudVision and DANZ network monitoring modules.

“Arista delivered solid Q1 2020 financial results despite the global pandemic that we all are experiencing,” Arista Chief Executive Officer Jayshree Ullal said in a statement. “We are committed to our employees’ safety while bringing value to our customers, shareholders and community in these unpredictable times and believe we will emerge stronger in the long term.”

Arista may well emerge stronger, but in the meantime the company is expecting some short-term pain. For the second quarter, it disappointed investors with lower-than-expected guidance. The company is projecting revenue of between $520 million and $540 million. Wall Street had earlier forecast revenue of $542 million for the same period.

Arista’s stock was down more than 3% in after-hours trading after rising 4.5% in the regular session.

Image: Arista Networks