There’s a version of Cisco (CSCO) that Wall Street wrote off years ago — a legacy networking giant stuck in the slow lane while flashier AI names grabbed all the attention.
That story is getting harder to tell lately
The 41-year-old multinational technology conglomerate headquartered in California just reported record quarterly revenue of $15.8 billion, up 12% year over year, beating the high end of its own guidance. Non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.06, ahead of expectations. CEO Chuck Robbins didn’t bury the lead. “Cisco delivered record quarterly revenue in Q3, and we saw very strong, broad-based demand for our products,” he said in the company’s third-quarter earnings statement, “demonstrating the relevance of our technology for connecting and securing AI.” Morgan Stanley was already watching.
The firm had been overweight on Cisco for a while, betting on a combination of hyperscaler relationships, an enterprise product cycle, and a networking spend backdrop that was quietly strengthening. The last time Cisco grew at this pace? More than 15 years ago.