Two 59%+ winners, four above 25% in Aug – How this AI model keeps picking winners
Investing.com - Piper Sandler reduced its price target on Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) stock to $64.00 from $70.00 on Thursday, while maintaining its Neutral rating on the networking equipment giant. The stock, currently trading near its 52-week high of $72.55, has delivered an impressive 59.18% return over the past year, according to InvestingPro data.
The price target adjustment follows Cisco’s fourth-quarter results, which Piper Sandler described as "only roughly inline," alongside a fiscal year 2026 guidance that fell short of bullish expectations, raising questions about whether peak growth has already occurred. InvestingPro analysis indicates the company is currently trading above its Fair Value, with a P/E ratio of 28.29x relative to its projected FY2026 revenue growth of 5%.
Despite the reduced target, Piper Sandler noted that Cisco’s overall narrative "remains unscathed," with approximately $1 billion in artificial intelligence orders from the second half of fiscal 2025 expected to flow into fiscal 2026 revenue.
The firm highlighted several positive factors supporting Cisco’s outlook, including continued AI-infrastructure spending, campus refresh initiatives, data center modernization, growing enterprise traction, and Splunk cross-sell opportunities and cost synergies.
Piper Sandler characterized Cisco’s fiscal 2026 guidance as "realistic," particularly for an incoming CFO, but indicated that even an upside scenario for the company appears to be already reflected in the current stock price.
In other recent news, Cisco Systems Inc. reported its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings, surpassing Wall Street expectations with an earnings per share of $0.99 and revenue of $14.7 billion. These results slightly exceeded analysts’ projections of $0.98 EPS and $14.62 billion in revenue. The company experienced overall revenue growth of approximately 8% year-over-year, with its core networking segment growing more than 12%. Following these results, Evercore ISI adjusted its price target for Cisco to $74, up from $72, while maintaining an "In Line" rating. BofA Securities also increased its price target to $85 from $76, citing Cisco’s revamped portfolio and a significant infrastructure cycle driven by AI and data growth. Additionally, KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated an Overweight rating on Cisco, emphasizing the company’s strong performance in its Networking segment despite weaker results in the Security division. KeyBanc highlighted Cisco’s healthy product order growth at 7%, aligning with the company’s fiscal year 2026 guidance of 5% year-over-year growth. These developments indicate a positive outlook from analysts regarding Cisco’s performance and future prospects.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.