Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is scheduled to report its fiscal third-quarter financial results after the markets close on Wednesday. Thomson Reuters consensus estimates call for $0.55 in earnings per share (EPS) on $11.97 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, the company posted EPS of $0.54 and $12.14 billion in revenue.
24/7 Wall St. has once again named Cisco as one of the 10 stocks to own for the decade. Believe it or not, Cisco was the only technology stock that was picked for a decade-long hold.
Keep in mind that Cisco’s stock actually has underperformed the broader market, with a mere 25% gain since late 2010. Still, the reality is that the average gain of those 10 stocks has been over 100%. What Cisco has going for it is a deeply entrenched networking and communications infrastructure business that is unrivaled in breadth of products and scope. It is also establishing deeper ties within China.
With Chuck Robbins now in as chief executive officer after a two-decade tenure of CEO John Chambers, with Chambers remaining as chairman, the team is now more nimble in its grouping efforts. That is at least the message being telegraphed.
Cisco has continued buying back stock at a massive rate, as one of the biggest buyers for all of 2016. It also has juiced up its dividend yet again and has the highest Dow Jones Industrial Average tech stock yield at about 3.9%.
Cisco is the one company dominating the networking and communications above others. Its growth has been hampered by the slowness in global growth markets of Brazil, China, Russia and others. But now it actually might start to win from the U.S. dollar’s strength taking a pause.
A few analysts weighed in on Cisco prior to the release of the earnings report:
- Drexel Hamilton reiterated a Buy rating.
- Credit Suisse reiterated a Sell rating.
- Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating with a $30 price target.
- Morgan Stanley reiterated a Hold rating.
Shares of Cisco were trading at $26.56 Wednesday morning, with a consensus analyst price target of $29.41 and a 52-week trading range of $22.46 to $29.85.
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