Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO reported explosive growth in AI-related infrastructure orders, surging past $2 billion for fiscal 2025, with CEO Chuck Robbins declaring the company is “well positioned… for the AI era,” even as its guidance for the year ahead was tempered by caution over global tariff uncertainty.
Check out CSCO’s stock price over here.
Cisco Doubles AI Order Pipeline Target For FY25
The record AI orders represent a massive success for the networking giant, more than doubling the initial $1 billion target the company set just one year ago.
Driven by tremendous demand from “web scale” cloud providers, these orders exceeded $800 million in the fourth quarter alone, cementing Cisco's role as a key supplier for the AI build-out.
Tariffs Dent FY26 Guidance?
Despite this momentum, the company's forecast came with a significant caveat. It expects fiscal 2026 revenue of $59 billion to $60 billion, versus estimates of $56.62 billion. The company sees full-year adjusted earnings in the range of $4.00 to $4.06 per share versus estimates of $3.79 per share.
However, Chief Financial Officer Mark Patterson noted that this forecast assumes the current, complex tariff landscape remains unchanged.
“We are still operating in a complex environment. Our Q1 and fiscal year 2026 guide assumes current tariffs and exemptions remain in place through the end of fiscal 2026,” Patterson said.
He detailed that the guidance factors in existing tariffs on goods from China, Mexico, and Canada, signaling that any future trade policy shifts remain a key risk factor.
Cisco’s Security Strategy Is Working
Beyond the AI success, CEO Robbins highlighted strength in other revitalized segments, particularly security. He noted that while overall security growth was modest, the company’s strategic focus on new products is paying off.
“If you look at those new products and new and refreshed again… we saw order growth during the quarter in excess of 20%,” Robbins told analysts, pointing to strong adoption of its newer platforms.
Cisco Q4: Revenue, EPS Beat
It reported fourth-quarter revenue of $14.67 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $14.62 billion and adjusted earnings of 99 cents per share, beating analyst estimates of 97 cents per share.
For the next quarter, Cisco expects the revenue to come in the range of $14.65 to $14.85 billion and EPS in the range of $0.97 to $0.99 per share.
Price Action
CSCO shares ended 1.56% lower on Wednesday and were 0.043% below the flat line after-hours. The stock was up 19.12% year-to-date and 54.93% over the past year.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CSCO maintains a stronger price trend in the short, medium, and long terms. However, the stock scores poorly on value and growth rankings. Additional performance details are available here.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, closed higher on Wednesday. The SPY was up 0.34% at $644.89, while the QQQ advanced 0.05% to $580.34, according to Benzinga Pro data.
On Thursday, the futures of the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 indices were mixed.
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