Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Issues FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) issued an update on its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 4.130-4.170 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 3.800. The company issued revenue guidance of $61.2 billion-$61.7 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $60.7 billion. Cisco Systems also updated its Q3 2026 guidance to 1.020-1.040 EPS.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.5%

Cisco Systems stock opened at $76.85 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $77.83 and a 200-day moving average of $73.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $52.11 and a twelve month high of $88.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $303.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.11 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 61.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.19.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 428 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.33, for a total value of $34,381.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 32,176 shares in the company, valued at $2,584,698.08. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 13,481 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total transaction of $1,039,789.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,753,521.90. This trade represents a 17.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 507,122 shares of company stock valued at $39,545,816. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Cisco Systems

Here are the key news stories impacting Cisco Systems this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco unveiled the Silicon One G300 switching chip designed for large AI cluster buildouts, positioning the company to compete in a multi?hundred?billion dollar AI infrastructure market — a clear long?term growth catalyst. Silicon One G300 announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat both EPS and revenue expectations and management highlighted strong AI/customer orders (notably ~$2.1B of AI infrastructure orders), supporting revenue momentum and the firm’s raised FY guidance. That underpins upside if Cisco converts AI demand into sustained margin expansion. Zacks coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple sell?side firms raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (examples: CICC raised its target to $96; UBS, Citi, BNP/Exane and others increased targets), which can support further upside via analyst-driven flows and ETF reweighting. CICC price target update
• Neutral Sentiment: Free cash flow fell year?over?year but remains positive with healthy margins; analysts note strong FCF long term despite higher capex for AI initiatives — this reduces downside risk but flags near?term investment drag. TalkMarkets FCF piece
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat and other bullish pieces argue for large long?term upside (price?target extrapolations to $150–$182), but these are speculative scenarios that rely on sustained AI share gains and margin recovery. MarketBeat long-term thesis
• Negative Sentiment: Investors punished Cisco after management disclosed gross?margin pressure driven by a global memory shortage and higher component costs; that margin miss triggered a sharp selloff and created near?term volatility risk for CSCO. CNBC margin story
• Negative Sentiment: Despite upbeat revenue/guidance, some analysts and market commentary viewed Cisco’s margin outlook and guidance as mixed, prompting sector weakness and headline risk that could keep short?term selling pressure elevated. MarketWatch on market impact
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short?interest data in the feed is inconsistent/zero and appears not to be a meaningful new factor for intraday moves. (Days?to?cover figures show no material change.)

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 49.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,392,000 after buying an additional 24,562 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 7.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,178 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $706,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 3.9% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 13,974 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $969,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 118.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 90,650 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,289,000 after purchasing an additional 590,650 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc is a global technology company that designs, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software and telecommunications equipment. Its core business focuses on enabling enterprise and service-provider networks through products such as routers, switches, network security appliances and wireless systems. Over time Cisco has broadened its portfolio to emphasize software-defined networking, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and edge computing solutions that help organizations build and manage modern IT environments.

In addition to hardware, Cisco offers a growing range of software platforms and subscription services for network management, security, analytics and collaboration.