Quick Read – Cisco Systems (CSCO) received an upgrade to Buy from Hold by HSBC with a $137 price target (up from $77), as the company targets $6 billion in AI revenue for fiscal 2027 with 50% year-over-year growth, while already booking $9 billion in AI infrastructure orders for…
26. – Cisco is being recognized as an AI infrastructure leader rather than a legacy networking incumbent, driven by accelerating AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers and the company’s credible path to converting a massive order book into revenue growth. – The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Cisco Systems wasn’t one of them. Get them here FREE
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) just earned a strong endorsement from HSBC, which upgraded the networking giant to Buy from Hold and lifted its price target to $137 from $77. The trigger is straightforward: management’s AI infrastructure order book is accelerating, and Cisco now expects fiscal 2027 AI revenue of at least $6 billion. For prudent investors, the call signals that Wall Street is finally giving Cisco credit for its AI franchise rather than treating it as a legacy networking incumbent.
The upgrade lands one day after KeyBanc, Piper Sandler, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citi all raised their Cisco price targets following the company’s fiscal Q3 2026 beat. HSBC’s jump from Hold to Buy carries extra weight because the firm shifted its rating bucket, signaling genuine conviction in how it views Cisco’s AI franchise. The Analyst’s Case HSBC’s thesis centers on Cisco’s $6 billion AI revenue target for fiscal 2027, which implies 50% year-over-year growth in AI-specific revenue.