Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Releases Q1 2026 Earnings Guidance

Key Points

• Cisco Systems updated its Q1 2026 earnings guidance, projecting an EPS of $0.970-$0.990 and revenue of $14.7-$14.9 billion, both above analyst estimates.
• Recent analyst coverage includes upgrades from Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo, signaling strong buying interest, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.55.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, reflecting an annual yield of 2.3% and a payout ratio of 66.94%.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) updated its first quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of 0.970-0.990 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 0.968. The company issued revenue guidance of $14.7 billion-$14.9 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $14.6 billion. Cisco Systems also updated its FY 2026 guidance to 4.000-4.060 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded down $1.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $70.32. 35,220,442 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,384,377. The company's 50-day moving average price is $67.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.16. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $45.04 and a 1-year high of $72.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $278.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.53, for a total transaction of $952,950.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 131,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,365,376.28. This represents a 10.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 181,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Cisco Systems stock. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 37.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares during the quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.

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