Technology
Why Analysts See Cisco Going Even Higher After Earnings
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Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) reported fiscal third-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Wednesday. The company had incredible earnings and investors were thrilled. As a result, analysts are seeing this stock going even higher.
24/7 Wall St. has included some highlights from the earnings report, as well as what analysts are saying about Cisco after the fact.
The company said it had $0.57 in earnings per share (EPS) on $12 billion in revenue. That compares to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of $0.55 in EPS on revenue of $11.97 billion. In the same period of last year, Cisco posted EPS of $0.54 and $12.14 billion in revenue.
Deferred revenue for the quarter was $15.3 billion, up 8% in total from last year, with deferred product revenue up 9%, driven largely by subscription-based and software offerings, and deferred service revenue up 7%.
In terms of the outlook for the fiscal fourth quarter, the company expects to have EPS in the range of $0.59 to $0.61 and a gross margin in the range of 63% to 64%. The consensus estimates for the quarter call for $0.58 in EPS on $12.42 billion in revenue.
The company saw its stock rise after the networking giant beat earnings and managed to give a positive (or better than negative) update about China concerns.
Analysts weighed in on the stock:
- Merrill Lynch reiterated a Neutral rating with a $30 price objective.
- Barclays has an Overweight rating and raised its price target to $31 from $29.
- Cowen has an Outperform rating and raised its price target from $37 to $39.
- Jefferies has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $30.75 from $27.50.
- RBC has an Outperform rating and raised its price target price to $33 from $31.
- BMO has an Outperform rating and raised its price target from $30 to $32.
- Credit Suisse has an Underperform rating and raised its target to $24 from $22.
- Deutsche Bank raised its price target to $35 from $33.
- FBN Securities has an Outperform rating and raised its price target to $32.
- MKM has a Neutral rating and raised its price target from $28 to $30.
- Raymond James has an Outperform rating and raised its price target to $31 from $28.
- UBS has a Buy rating and raised its price target price to $30.
- Wunderlich raised its price target to $27 from $24.
Shares of Cisco ended the week at $27.97. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $30.96 and a 52-week trading range of $22.46 to $29.62.
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