Latest news with #CiscoSystems'
CNBC
a day ago
- Business
- CNBC
Buy Cisco as it trades at an 'undemanding' valuation, says Deutsche Bank
Cisco Systems' targets are looking more realistic while the stock trades at an "undemanding" valuation, according to Deutsche Bank. The firm upgraded the digital communications stock to buy from hold in a Sunday note, and increased its price target to $73 per share from $65, suggesting shares will rise 14% from Friday's $64.09 close. CSCO YTD mountain Cisco Systems stock in 2025. Analyst Matt Niknam said the company has "improved visibility towards durable mid-single-digit growth in upcoming years, with tailwinds from AI." This outlook underpinned the stock upgrade, but he also pointed to "more favorable near-term competitive dynamics in networking and improved scale in security." Further, Cisco stock trades at a roughly 25% discount to the broader S & P 500, which represents an attractive entry point for investors, he said. "Taken together, we see increased line of sight towards sustainable high-single bottom-line growth, which we believe should help compress the discount to the market multiple," the analyst added. Shares have advanced about 11% so far in 2025.
Epoch Times
15-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Cisco Reports 2nd Consecutive Revenue Growth as AI, Global Partnerships Boost Demand
Cisco Systems' revenue turnaround continued for a second consecutive quarter, as artificial intelligence and global partnerships boosted demand for its technology products. The company's shares rallied in after-hours trading. After the closing bell on May 14, the San Jose, California-based network products pioneer That amounts to an 11 percent increase from the same period in fiscal year 2024, surpassing the company's earlier guidance and exceeding the 9 percent year-over-year growth reported in the second quarter. The two consecutive quarters of growth represent a significant rebound in the company's revenue performance, following four straight quarters of declines. The turnaround was driven by strong demand across all geographies and product lines, with AI infrastructure orders from webscale customers exceeding $600 million, surpassing the $1 billion target set just one quarter earlier. The industrial Internet of Things portfolio, which includes ruggedized Catalyst products, grew 35 percent year over year, while data center switching orders rose by double digits. Earnings per share were $0.62, up by 35 percent from a year earlier and above the company's previous guidance. Related Stories 5/6/2025 5/1/2025 'Cisco once again had strong quarterly results with clear demand for our technologies,' CEO Chuck Robbins said in a statement. 'The momentum we are seeing with AI is fueled by the power of our secure networking portfolio, our trusted global partnerships, and the value we bring to our customers.' To capitalize on the opportunities AI creates for its core businesses, Cisco Systems has been forging partnerships worldwide, including one In March, Cisco In addition, Cisco has joined the AI infrastructure partnership alongside BlackRock Global Infrastructure Partners, MGX, Microsoft, NVIDIA, XAI, and Energy Partners GE Vernova and Nextera Energy, which supports AI workloads. Building partnerships to foster growth is a radical departure from the old glory days when Cisco grew its revenues through acquisitions. From 1993 to 2000, the networking hardware company acquired 70 companies, including Crescendo Communications (1993), Newport Systems Solutions (1994), Network Translation (1995), Netsys Technologies (1996), Net Speed (1998), and Growth Networks (1999). However, this growth strategy wasn't sustainable, as Cisco overpaid for these young companies, mostly by issuing new shares that were dilutive to existing stockholders. That's how Cisco ended up with 4 billion shares and has yet to get back to its peak performance on Wall Street. Still, Robbins believes AI will pave the way for better days ahead. 'As we look ahead, I think the AI opportunity for us, we believe, is strong,' he said during the earnings conference call. 'We think we're well-positioned. We believe that because we—from a technology and a portfolio perspective—play across the whole stack. We have networking, we have security. We have Silicon, which I think are all very important. We have secure AI solutions that we're delivering in the marketplace.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cisco Hits AI Target a Quarter Early
Cisco topped earnings and sales expectations, reporting solid year-over-year growth. The company booked $600 million in AI business in the quarter, surpassing its full-year target of $1 billion in bookings in just nine months. Cisco guided for slightly better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings, providing some relief to investors who were worried about the impact of tariffs and trade wars. 10 stocks we like better than Cisco Systems › Here's our initial take on Cisco Systems' (NASDAQ: CSCO) third-quarter financial report. Metric Q3 2024 Q3 2025 Change vs. Expectations Revenue $12.7 billion $14.1 billion 11% Beat Earnings per share $0.88 $0.96 9% Beat Gross margin 65.1% 65.6% 50 bp n/a Security revenue $1.3 billion $2.0 billion 54% n/a Cisco posted solid year-over-year growth and topped Wall Street expectations while also issuing guidance for the final three months of its fiscal year that were ahead of what analysts had expected. Sales of security equipment led the way, up 54% from a year ago, and Cisco is increasingly proving its relevance in the AI conversation. The company said it took more than $600 million in AI infrastructure orders in the quarter, surpassing its $1 billion target for the full fiscal year one quarter ahead of schedule. In March, the company rolled out its Webex AI agent for customer service applications. Cisco is also doing a good job of controlling costs, reporting flat operating expenses from a year ago. Overall gross margin inched up slightly, fueling a solid increase in operating income. Management is forecasting $0.96 to $0.98 in earnings per share for the fiscal fourth quarter on revenue of $14.5 billion to $14.7 billion, offering some upside to the consensus $0.95 per share on $14.5 billion in sales. Cisco shares were flat for the year coming into earnings, but that follows a big post-Liberation Day plunge and slow recovery in recent weeks. Investors were encouraged by the results, sending Cisco shares up 4% in aftermarket trading on Wednesday following the release but ahead of the company's conference call with investors. The AI story and Cisco's role in that story as a provider of secure switches and other necessary products is likely to continue to build steam. Ahead of its earnings announcement, Cisco made headlines as part of a group partnering with Saudi Arabia's newly formed AI company, Humain AI. The stock has been choppy this year in large part due to concerns about the impact of tariffs and trade restrictions, and although those worries have begun to ease, expect management to be asked about trade tensions on the postearnings call. The bottom line is that Cisco, one of the darlings of the late 1990s tech explosion, remains as relevant as ever in the AI era. Full earnings report Investor relations page Before you buy stock in Cisco Systems, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Cisco Systems wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $613,951!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $796,353!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 948% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 170% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 12, 2025 Lou Whiteman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cisco Systems. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Cisco Hits AI Target a Quarter Early was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
