Cisco posts slight Q4 earnings beat

Cisco (CSCO) reported fiscal fourth quarter results that were just slightly better than Wall Street had been expecting. Adjusted earnings of $0.99 just topped the Bloomberg consensus estimate of $0.98. Revenue was $14.67 billion versus an estimate of $14.63 billion. The tech giant's first quarter revenue and adjusted earnings outlooks were a bit better than analysts had been expecting. For fiscal 2026, Cisco sees full-year adjusted earnings in a range of $4 to $4.06. The expectation had been $4.03.

Market Domination Overtime Anchor Josh Lipton and Barron's associate editor Al Root discuss the report.

To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination Overtime.

Video Transcript

00:00 Speaker A

Cisco's fourth quarter earnings. They are just hitting the wire shares. You can see they are lower by two and a half percent. Let's get you the numbers. Q4 adjusted EPS, 99 cents versus an expectation of 98 cents. Looks like Q4 revenue 14.67 billion. The street was at 14.63 billion. Gross margins, Q4 adjusted gross margins, 68.4%. Consensus was at 68.2%. Let's spin ahead here. Look at the forecast. Q1 adjusted EPS, they're calling for between 97 cents to 99 cents. The street was at 97 cents. And it looks like for Q1 revenue, the guidance they're giving between 14.65 billion to 14.85 billion. The street was at 14.65 billion. And for the year, let's spin ahead. Cisco sees full year 2026 adjusted EPS between $4, I'm sorry, between $4 to $4.06 versus an estimate of 4.03 on the street. We're lower there at least initially. Now, your take on that print.

02:07 Speaker B

Um, so stocks down. Uh, no harm, no foul. Uh, you know, we'll have to see what they say. I mean, like everything, this is an AI stock. They sell networking equipment. We need lots of computers for AI. So, you know, uh, that's a bullish. Earnings were up year over year, beat by a cent. Um, you know, it's not a wild beat, right? Didn't beat by a dime and raise their forecast beyond the street, didn't beat high into guidance or anything like that. So, kind of no harm, no foul. This is a stock that's up 50, 60% over the past 12 months. So you're going to get a dip tomorrow. Analysts who like it will still like it. Analysts who don't like it won't like it. Uh, I call this a push.

03:27 Speaker A

A push. On the call, my friend, would you be most interested in what Chuck Robbins has to say? Is it are you listening for the about the macro? Is it tariffs? Is it AI narrative? What do you want to hear?

03:47 Speaker B

Yeah, it'll be tariffs and AI. Your ability to, uh, manage tariffs, again, China tariffs, uh, that can has been kicked down the road. Lots of people do things like, "Oh, we're moving things to Taiwan, we're moving things to Indonesia." Can, you know, what the tariff impact will be and how are you going to manage that and offset it? Keep margins and earnings progressing higher. That's a good topic, and then it'll just be, what are AI orders looking like? They'll just want to hear bullish commentary. So, assuming, uh, that you get AI bullishness and tariffs are sort of, you know, throughout this whole second quarter earnings season, has sort of not as bad as feared, you know, past peak tariff fears. Uh, you know, maybe you get a dip tomorrow, but again, I think in the poker terms, this is this is a push.

05:03 Speaker A

A push. There is a new CFO here, and at least some analysts have predicted that, you know, the CFO would might take a more conservative approach to the guide because he is new. We'll see. Related Videos

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