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Cisco Systems (CSCO) Competitors

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$67.83 -0.12 (-0.18%)
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CSCO vs. GOOG, GOOGL, MSFT, NVDA, PANW, ZM, ANET, HPE, IBM, and JNPR

Should you be buying Cisco Systems stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Cisco Systems include Alphabet (GOOG), Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), NVIDIA (NVDA), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Zoom Communications (ZM), Arista Networks (ANET), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), International Business Machines (IBM), and Juniper Networks (JNPR). These companies are all part of the "computer and technology" sector.

Cisco Systems vs. Its Competitors

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) 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 profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and risk.

Alphabet has a net margin of 30.86% compared to Cisco Systems' net margin of 17.60%. Alphabet's return on equity of 34.54% beat Cisco Systems' return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Alphabet30.86% 34.54% 25.07%
Cisco Systems 17.60%26.48%9.87%

Alphabet presently has a consensus price target of $207.13, indicating a potential upside of 13.17%. Cisco Systems has a consensus price target of $69.95, indicating a potential upside of 3.07%. Given Alphabet's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Alphabet is more favorable than Cisco Systems.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Alphabet
3 Sell rating(s)
5 Hold rating(s)
18 Buy rating(s)
6 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.84
Cisco Systems
0 Sell rating(s)
8 Hold rating(s)
15 Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.76

In the previous week, Alphabet had 102 more articles in the media than Cisco Systems. MarketBeat recorded 174 mentions for Alphabet and 72 mentions for Cisco Systems. Cisco Systems' average media sentiment score of 1.24 beat Alphabet's score of 1.06 indicating that Cisco Systems is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Alphabet
121 Very Positive mention(s)
12 Positive mention(s)
23 Neutral mention(s)
8 Negative mention(s)
1 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
Cisco Systems
56 Very Positive mention(s)
4 Positive mention(s)
7 Neutral mention(s)
2 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

Alphabet has higher revenue and earnings than Cisco Systems. Alphabet 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
Alphabet$350.02B6.35$100.12B$8.9720.40
Cisco Systems$53.80B4.99$10.32B$2.4527.70

Alphabet has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cisco Systems has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Alphabet pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Cisco Systems pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Alphabet pays out 9.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cisco Systems pays out 66.9% 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. Alphabet has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Cisco Systems has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Cisco Systems is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

27.3% of Alphabet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.3% of Cisco Systems shares are held by institutional investors. 13.0% of Alphabet shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Cisco Systems shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Alphabet beats Cisco Systems on 15 of the 20 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 SystemsCOMP IndustryComputer SectorNASDAQ Exchange
Market Cap$268.75B$21.18B$27.94B$9.13B
Dividend Yield2.41%2.41%3.13%4.01%
P/E Ratio27.7021.2833.9819.58
Price / Sales4.992.221,961.1979.96
Price / Cash17.8822.2533.7127.50
Price / Book5.9610.307.295.55
Net Income$10.32B$705.90M$774.15M$252.28M
7 Day Performance-1.55%0.79%0.53%2.99%
1 Month Performance5.89%8.10%6.39%11.65%
1 Year Performance43.24%4,998,522.15%52,797.55%17.15%

Cisco Systems Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
CSCO
Cisco Systems
4.6802 of 5 stars
$67.87
-0.1%
$69.95
+3.1%
+43.4%$268.75B$53.80B27.7090,400Positive News
Analyst Downgrade
GOOG
Alphabet
4.884 of 5 stars
$180.22
+0.3%
$206.38
+14.5%
-2.9%$2.19T$350.02B20.09190,200Trending News
Analyst Forecast
GOOGL
Alphabet
4.1965 of 5 stars
$179.08
+0.2%
$199.95
+11.7%
-2.6%$2.17T$350.02B19.96183,323Trending News
MSFT
Microsoft
4.5123 of 5 stars
$498.25
+1.5%
$524.71
+5.3%
+11.0%$3.70T$245.12B38.50228,000Trending News
NVDA
NVIDIA
4.4725 of 5 stars
$159.28
+1.3%
$176.19
+10.6%
+27.6%$3.89T$130.50B51.3836,000Trending News
PANW
Palo Alto Networks
4.1428 of 5 stars
$201.50
+2.3%
$208.00
+3.2%
+11.4%$134.36B$8.03B115.1415,289Positive News
ZM
Zoom Communications
4.8269 of 5 stars
$78.12
+0.7%
$87.00
+11.4%
+27.5%$23.64B$4.67B23.467,412
ANET
Arista Networks
4.2928 of 5 stars
$102.45
+1.3%
$109.33
+6.7%
+20.2%$128.66B$7.00B43.364,412Positive News
Analyst Forecast
HPE
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
4.702 of 5 stars
$21.32
+0.3%
$21.85
+2.5%
-2.1%$27.97B$30.13B21.5361,000Positive News
Analyst Forecast
IBM
International Business Machines
4.2249 of 5 stars
$291.66
+1.4%
$257.50
-11.7%
+55.0%$271.06B$62.75B50.20293,400Positive News
JNPR
Juniper Networks
3.3677 of 5 stars
$39.95
flat
$40.00
+0.1%
N/A$13.36B$5.20B38.053,519

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This page (NASDAQ:CSCO) was last updated on 7/14/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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