Cisco Systems Posts Q3 Beat; Is Outperforming Arista Networks In The AI Cycle, Analysts Say

Shares of Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) were climbing in early trading on Thursday, after the company Wednesday reported its fiscal third-quarter results.

The announcement came amid an exciting earnings season. Here are some key analyst takeaways.

Rosenblatt Securities On Cisco Systems

Analyst Mike Genovese reaffirmed a Buy rating, while raising the price target from $63 to $74.

Cisco Systems reported revenues and earnings of $14.15 billion and 96 cents per share, ahead of estimates, with the outperformance being driven by networking, Genovese said in the note. Gross margins were also better than expected, with a lower-than-expected tariff impact, higher productivity and Splunk margin expansion, he added.

The midpoint of the fourth-quarter revenue guidance came in at $14.60 billion, around $200 million higher than expected, the analyst stated. Cisco Systems is outperforming peer Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET) in the AI cycle, as "it has become more responsive to Hyper Scale customer needs," he further wrote.

Check out other analyst stock ratings.

Goldman Sachs On Cisco Systems

Analyst Michael Ng maintained a Neutral rating and price target of $63.

Networking and Collaboration revenue came in higher than expected, more than offsetting the miss in Security, Ng said. Cisco Systems recorded webscale AI orders of more than $600 million, accelerating from $350 million in the previous quarter, he added.

Enterprise orders grew by 22%, driven by Splunk, the analyst stated. "Tariff headwinds were more moderate than expected given the pause in reciprocal tariffs and semiconductor & select product exemptions," he further wrote.

CSCO Price Action: Shares of Cisco Systems had risen by 5.74% to $64.81 at the time of publication on Thursday.

Read More:  Cisco Is Targeting A Multi-Billion-Dollar Security Shake-Up—And It Starts With Killing The Firewall

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