Cisco’s Outlook Reflects ‘Lingering Macro Uncertainty,’ Analyst Says

Cisco stock has gained 19% this year. (Alexander Koerner/Getty Images)

Cisco Systems stock was flat on Thursday as Wall Street digested slightly better than expected financial results from the networking company. Still, several analysts think shares have more room to run from here.

Cisco reported fiscal fourth-quarter financial results Wednesday night. Shares dropped in after hours trading as investors seemed to want more not only from the quarter, but also from guidance.

Cisco expects full-year adjusted earnings to be between $4 and $4.06 a share on revenue between $59 billion to $60 billion, compared with Wall Street estimates of earnings of $4.02 a share on revenue of $59.4 billion.

Shares of Cisco were up 0.1% to $70.50 on Thursday.

Expectations were high for Cisco after a solid year for the stock. Shares have risen 19% in 2025, compared with the 9.9% increase of the S&P 500 .

“Our analysis suggests the outlook is conservative likely reflecting lingering macro uncertainty,” UBS analyst David Vogt wrote in a research note on Wednesday night. He rates Cisco as Neutral with a $74 price target.

President Donald Trump’s tariff policies are expected to raise costs for enterprises, which could lead to those businesses cutting their IT budgets. Investors are curious if businesses have been increasing their purchases ahead of time, otherwise known as pulling forward, to avoid the most aggressive tariffs. However, CEO Charles Robbins said on the call that he hasn’t “heard one instance in the last six months of a single customer who said, ‘I’m going to order this now before price increases occur.’”

Cisco CFO Mark Patterson, who started the role in July, said on the earnings call Wednesday night that “while we have some clarity on tariffs, we are still operating in a complex environment.”

Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes raised his price target for Cisco to $84 from $78 and maintained a Buy rating on the stock.

“Some noise could be made about Cisco not offering upside to FY26 EPS and revenue guidance, but we didn’t expect a new CFO to get out over his skis in his first fiscal year,” Reitzes wrote in a note on Thursday.

Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com