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Cisco Systems (CSCO) Competitors

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$64.19 -0.96 (-1.47%)
Closing price 06/11/2025 04:00 PM Eastern
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$64.31 +0.12 (+0.19%)
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CSCO vs. QCOM, PANW, MSI, FFIV, JNPR, CIEN, IDCC, SATS, CALX, and EXTR

Should you be buying Cisco Systems stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Cisco Systems include QUALCOMM (QCOM), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Motorola Solutions (MSI), F5 (FFIV), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Ciena (CIEN), InterDigital (IDCC), EchoStar (SATS), Calix (CALX), and Extreme Networks (EXTR). These companies are all part of the "communications equipment" industry.

Cisco Systems vs. Its Competitors

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) and QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, community ranking and analyst recommendations.

QUALCOMM has a net margin of 25.94% compared to Cisco Systems' net margin of 16.96%. QUALCOMM's return on equity of 39.51% beat Cisco Systems' return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Cisco Systems16.96% 26.08% 9.65%
QUALCOMM 25.94%39.51%18.65%

Cisco Systems has higher revenue and earnings than QUALCOMM. QUALCOMM is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cisco Systems, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Cisco Systems$55.62B4.57$10.32B$2.4526.20
QUALCOMM$42.29B4.14$10.14B$9.8216.24

Cisco Systems has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, QUALCOMM has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Cisco Systems pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. QUALCOMM pays an annual dividend of $3.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Cisco Systems pays out 66.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. QUALCOMM pays out 36.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Cisco Systems has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and QUALCOMM has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years.

Cisco Systems received 176 more outperform votes than QUALCOMM when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 77.19% of users gave QUALCOMM an outperform vote while only 73.01% of users gave Cisco Systems an outperform vote.

CompanyUnderperformOutperform
Cisco SystemsOutperform Votes
2453
73.01%
Underperform Votes
907
26.99%
QUALCOMMOutperform Votes
2277
77.19%
Underperform Votes
673
22.81%

Cisco Systems currently has a consensus target price of $68.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.94%. QUALCOMM has a consensus target price of $189.88, indicating a potential upside of 19.06%. Given QUALCOMM's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe QUALCOMM is more favorable than Cisco Systems.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Cisco Systems
0 Sell rating(s)
8 Hold rating(s)
12 Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.73
QUALCOMM
1 Sell rating(s)
15 Hold rating(s)
12 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.39

In the previous week, Cisco Systems had 12 more articles in the media than QUALCOMM. MarketBeat recorded 85 mentions for Cisco Systems and 73 mentions for QUALCOMM. Cisco Systems' average media sentiment score of 1.10 beat QUALCOMM's score of 0.92 indicating that Cisco Systems is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Cisco Systems
62 Very Positive mention(s)
3 Positive mention(s)
11 Neutral mention(s)
1 Negative mention(s)
1 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
QUALCOMM
46 Very Positive mention(s)
7 Positive mention(s)
17 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

73.3% of Cisco Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.3% of QUALCOMM shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Cisco Systems shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of QUALCOMM shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

QUALCOMM beats Cisco Systems on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.

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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time

This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding CSCO and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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Media Sentiment Over Time

This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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CSCO vs. The Competition

MetricCisco SystemsComputer & office equipment IndustryComputer SectorNASDAQ Exchange
Market Cap$254.19B$36.41B$26.21B$8.63B
Dividend Yield2.54%2.71%2.85%4.18%
P/E Ratio28.0318.5245.2820.06
Price / Sales4.573.391,954.91157.10
Price / Cash17.0123.2234.7434.64
Price / Book5.617.277.004.70
Net Income$10.32B$1.31B$740.66M$247.88M
7 Day Performance-0.67%2.20%1.87%2.63%
1 Month Performance4.09%4.34%4.25%6.36%
1 Year Performance40.71%3,683,126.38%52,556.17%14.05%

Cisco Systems Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
CSCO
Cisco Systems
4.7344 of 5 stars
$64.19
-1.5%
$68.00
+5.9%
+40.2%$254.19B$55.62B28.0383,300Positive News
Short Interest ↓
Analyst Revision
QCOM
QUALCOMM
4.9246 of 5 stars
$155.93
+4.5%
$189.88
+21.8%
-23.5%$171.21B$42.29B16.6651,000Trending News
Analyst Revision
PANW
Palo Alto Networks
4.1194 of 5 stars
$197.17
-1.2%
$208.00
+5.5%
+24.2%$131.59B$8.87B111.1912,600Positive News
Analyst Revision
MSI
Motorola Solutions
4.9425 of 5 stars
$414.84
-0.7%
$513.25
+23.7%
+8.4%$69.25B$10.96B45.0020,000Analyst Revision
FFIV
F5
3.7978 of 5 stars
$295.56
+0.0%
$282.56
-4.4%
+75.8%$16.97B$2.94B29.387,090Positive News
JNPR
Juniper Networks
4.3685 of 5 stars
$35.87
-0.1%
$40.00
+11.5%
+1.1%$11.99B$5.20B41.7010,900Positive News
Short Interest ↓
CIEN
Ciena
4.6311 of 5 stars
$73.53
+1.1%
$83.15
+13.1%
+57.2%$10.45B$4.26B128.948,080Earnings Report
IDCC
InterDigital
2.0484 of 5 stars
$229.92
+1.1%
$160.00
-30.4%
+91.2%$5.96B$815.48M19.08420Insider Trade
SATS
EchoStar
2.2093 of 5 stars
$16.27
-6.9%
$23.75
+46.0%
-3.3%$4.68B$15.68B-1.782,300
CALX
Calix
2.861 of 5 stars
$48.56
+1.0%
$47.83
-1.5%
+31.4%$3.14B$825.45M-107.741,430
EXTR
Extreme Networks
4.0158 of 5 stars
$16.83
+1.2%
$18.58
+10.5%
+38.3%$2.24B$1.09B-17.902,656

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This page (NASDAQ:CSCO) was last updated on 6/12/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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