The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: David Vogt - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst
: I just want to go back to capital allocation for a second. Over the last 5 years, you've been pretty consistent in deploying free cash
flow to dividends, buybacks, although that materially accelerated in the quarter, and acquisitions. Can you kind of expand on your
philosophy over the next several years with respect to potential uses going forward, given the recent increase in the buyback today?
And has your position around leverage and the use of leverage changed? And ultimately, what amount of cash flow would you be
comfortable with on the balance sheet to run the business, given the order strength that you're seeing, the working capital needs
and supply chain uncertainty?
Question: David Vogt - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst
: Maybe just as a quick follow-up to that, along the same lines. Obviously, you talked about culture, tech fit and, ultimately, making
it work financially if there is an M&A opportunity on the horizon. I think historically, you haven't really used your balance sheet as
aggressively using leverage to do a transaction. I mean does that fit with how you're thinking about the business going forward? Is
that a consideration? Or should we expect to be in sort of the same ranges from a leverage perspective, whether it's measured on
gross or net debt perspective or cash perspective in your case?
Question: Samik Chatterjee - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: I had 2 quick ones. Chuck, you talked about the strength that you're seeing with web scale customers within the service provider
customer segment. Maybe if you can give us some details about what you're seeing from telcos and cable and the strength as well
as what visibility they are providing you at this point?
And then for my follow-up, I just wanted to go back to orders again. And your enterprise orders did accelerate from 30% to, I think,
37% from first quarter to second. Is there a composition of early orders that's driving that acceleration? Or are you seeing an underlying
acceleration? Can you just kind of help us think through that?
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