“We expect to continue that higher level and consistent higher level of share buybacks, and to continue to show increases in our dividend.”

In context

“oon, everyone. I wanted to ask about your share repurchase cadence. Stock obviously could get hit here. We have been talking about $5 billion in buybacks or so for the year. I know some of that stops that dilution. If you guys are confident in the second half pickup, is there any potential that you would be more aggressive in the upcoming quarter? And how are you thinking about share repo this year, given current dynamics with the Splunk deal coming? Thanks. Chuck Robbins: Yes, Ben, as we said on the Splunk transaction, it's going to be outside of the transactional costs. It's going to be cash flow positive from the first year forward. So the Splunk transaction is not, in any way, having an effect on our capital return, either through the dividend or through the -- through share buybacks. We expect to continue that higher level and consistent higher level of share buybacks, and to continue to show increases in our dividend. We also will obviously look at the opportunity -- at the chance to be opportunistic on the share buyback. I'm not going to commit to that at this moment, but that is something that we will obviously take a look at. Sami Badri: All right. Thank you, Ben. Ben Reitzes: Thank you. Sami Badri: All right. Michelle, next question. Operator: Samik Chatterjee with JPMorgan. You may go ahead. Samik Chatterjee: Hi. Thank you for taking my question. I guess, if I can just clarify one thing first. I think, Chuck, in your prepared remarks, you did say, you saw the more pronounced impact on the orders in the month of October. I think that's what I heard you say. I mean, just curious, are you implying that you did see an improvement in orders in the sort of first couple of weeks of November itself and th”