Cisco Systems (CSCO) Stock Today, November 25, 2025: AI Security Push, Insider Selling, and What’s Next for the Rally

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is trading around $76–77 per share on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, leaving the networking giant less than 5% below its 52‑week high after a powerful AI‑driven run. ^[1]

Investors this morning are digesting fresh AI and 5G security product news, new insider selling, an upcoming virtual annual shareholder meeting, and lingering questions about valuation after a roughly 34.6% gain over the last 12 months. ^[2]

Cisco stock today: price, performance and positioning in the AI trade

As of the latest available quote, CSCO is around $76.24, giving Cisco a market capitalization of roughly $300 billion. The stock’s 52‑week range is $52.11 to $80.06, putting today’s price about 46% above the low and roughly 5% below the high. ^[3]

Over the past year, Cisco shares have climbed 34.6%, outpacing both the broader Zacks Computer & Technology sector and key peers like Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Arista Networks (ANET). Analysts attribute that outperformance to accelerating AI infrastructure demand and a stronger competitive position in security and networking. ^[4]

On valuation, Cisco currently trades at about a 29x trailing P/E and roughly 18x forward earnings, with a $1.64 annual dividend (about a 2.1–2.2% yield) and an ex‑dividend date of January 2, 2026. ^[5] According to StockAnalysis, 17 analysts rate CSCO a “Buy” with an average 12‑month price target of $84.31, implying around 10–11% upside from current levels. ^[6]

In short, Cisco is no longer a neglected value name—it’s being treated as a blue‑chip AI and networking play that still offers income, but also carries higher expectations baked into the price.

Fresh headlines driving CSCO on November 25, 2025

1. Cisco brings AI muscle to 5G security

New this morning, Benzinga reports that Cisco is “doubling down” on 5G‑era security and AI infrastructure, rolling out enhanced firewall, encryption and threat‑detection technologies tailored for telecom operators and high‑throughput enterprise networks. ^[7]

The piece highlights that:

Cisco is applying AI more deeply across its security stack to keep up with increasingly automated, AI‑augmented cyber threats.
The new offerings target 5G and edge environments, where ultra‑low latency and massive device counts require more intelligent, automated threat detection and policy enforcement. ^[8]

For investors, this matters because security revenue dipped 2% year‑over‑year in Q1 FY26, even as AI infrastructure and networking surged. ^[9] Fresh product cycles in 5G security could help close that gap and support Cisco’s stated ambition for mid‑teens growth in security, a goal that JPMorgan has said will require a meaningful shift toward newer products. ^[10]

2. Insider selling: SVP & Chief Accounting Officer cashes in

Another headline attracting attention is insider activity from Maria Victoria Wong, Cisco’s SVP and Chief Accounting Officer.

A Form 4 filing shows that Wong:

Sold 9,801 shares on November 24, 2025 at an average price around $76.38, for proceeds of approximately $748,600. ^[11]
Also surrendered 459 shares on November 21 as part of a transaction related to equity compensation. ^[12]
Retains more than 33,000 shares in direct holdings after the trades. ^[13]

Yahoo Finance data also show a cluster of seven insider stock sales totaling roughly $19.8 million between November 18 and 20, described as routine transactions. ^[14]

Key context:

These sales appear tied to pre‑arranged Rule 10b5‑1 trading plans, a common mechanism executives use to diversify their holdings on a set schedule. ^[15]
There is no accompanying negative guidance or abrupt resignation, which typically would worry investors more.

Still, with the stock near its highs after a big AI re‑rating, insider selling naturally reinforces the idea that expectations are elevated.

3. Institutional reshuffling and the 2025 virtual annual meeting

Two recent MarketBeat filings show institutional investors moving pieces around in Cisco:

Edgar Lomax Co. VA disclosed that it trimmed its position in CSCO, locking in some gains.
Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC reported acquiring or increasing its stake in Cisco, effectively leaning into the AI‑networking thesis after the earnings beat. ^[16]

The overall takeaway: institutional interest remains strong, though some long‑time holders are rebalancing after the rally.

Meanwhile, Cisco announced it will host its 2025 Virtual Annual Meeting of Stockholders on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 at 8:00 a.m. PST, via live audio webcast with synchronized slides. ^[17]

Shareholders of record as of October 17, 2025 can vote and submit questions online.
The 2025 Annual Report and proxy are already available on Cisco’s investor relations site, and a replay of the meeting will be posted within 24 hours. ^[18]

This meeting will be a focal point for updates on capital allocation (dividends and buybacks), AI strategy and acquisitions.

Earnings backdrop: AI demand and a strong start to fiscal 2026

Cisco’s current share price still reflects the afterglow of its Q1 FY 2026 earnings beat, reported on November 12. The company delivered: ^[19]

Revenue of $14.9 billion, up 8% year over year.
GAAP EPS of $0.72, up 6%.
Non‑GAAP EPS of $1.00, up 10% and above guidance.
Product orders up 13%, with networking product orders growing double‑digits for the fifth consecutive quarter.
AI infrastructure orders of $1.3 billion from hyperscalers, a major acceleration versus previous periods.

Guidance was also robust:

Q2 FY26 revenue: $15.0–$15.2 billion.
Full‑year FY26 revenue: $60.2–$61.0 billion.
FY26 non‑GAAP EPS: $4.08–$4.14. ^[20]

After earnings, JPMorgan hosted a meeting with Cisco’s head of investor relations and came away more bullish on AI: ^[21]

Cisco’s fiscal 2026 hyperscaler AI order target of “more than $4 billion” was described as a minimum level, implying potential upside.
The AI opportunity pipeline exceeds $2 billion, including initiatives like NeoCloud and Enterprise AI, much of it built in just the last quarter.
The “sovereign AI” pipeline (government and national‑cloud deals) is not yet included in that $2+ billion figure.

However, there are nuances:

Security revenue fell 2% and Collaboration revenue fell 3% year‑over‑year in Q1, highlighting pockets of weakness amid the AI boom. ^[22]
JPMorgan notes Cisco will need a significant mix shift toward newer products to hit its target security growth range of 15–17%. ^[23]

Net result: fundamentals have clearly improved, but the market is paying for that improvement—and then some.

Strategic bets: spatial intelligence, enterprise AI, hyperscale infrastructure and quantum

Over the past two weeks, Cisco has unveiled a flurry of AI‑adjacent deals and partnerships that help explain why the stock is being treated as a core “picks and shovels” name for the AI era.

1. Investing in Fei‑Fei Li’s spatial intelligence startup World Labs

On November 20, Cisco announced an investment in World Labs Technologies, a spatial intelligence AI startup founded by Dr. Fei‑Fei Li, one of the most prominent researchers in computer vision. ^[24]

Key points:

World Labs focuses on Large World Models (LWMs) that allow AI systems to generate, reason within and interact with 3D worlds.
The technology aims to help AI better understand physical environments, with applications in robotics, gaming, digital twins and industrial automation. ^[25]
Cisco frames the deal as reinforcing its role as the “critical infrastructure provider for the AI era”, tying next‑generation AI workloads back to Cisco networking and security platforms. ^[26]

2. NeuralFabric: small language models for enterprise AI

In a blog post updated on November 21, Cisco confirmed it has completed the acquisition of NeuralFabric, a Seattle‑area enterprise AI platform company. ^[27]

NeuralFabric’s platform enables enterprises to:

Build domain‑specific Small Language Models (SLMs) using their own proprietary data, rather than generic internet‑scale models.
Deploy those models across SaaS and on‑premises environments with strong data‑sovereignty controls. ^[28]

Cisco plans to fold this into its AI Canvas platform and existing AI assistants, alongside innovations like its Security Reasoning Model and Deep Network Model for network‑aware AI. ^[29]

For investors, NeuralFabric strengthens Cisco’s pitch as a trusted enterprise AI platform provider—not just a hardware vendor.

3. AMD, Cisco and HUMAIN joint venture: 1 GW of AI infrastructure

On November 19, Cisco announced a joint venture with AMD and Saudi AI firm HUMAIN to build what they describe as “world‑leading AI infrastructure.” ^[30]

Highlights:

The partners plan to deploy up to 1 gigawatt (GW) of AI infrastructure by 2030, starting with a 100‑megawatt build‑out in Saudi Arabia in 2026. ^[31]
AMD Instinct™ MI450 GPUs will provide compute, while Cisco contributes critical networking and data center infrastructure. ^[32]
Cisco and AMD will act as exclusive technology partners to the venture, giving Cisco a structural role in a major regional AI build‑out. ^[33]

This JV aligns directly with Cisco’s narrative that it can monetize AI demand at the infrastructure layer, supporting large‑scale GPU data centers globally.

4. Building a quantum computing network with IBM

Also on November 20, IBM and Cisco announced plans to build a network of large‑scale, fault‑tolerant quantum computers, with an eye toward an eventual “quantum‑computing internet” by the late 2030s. ^[34]

The collaboration aims to:

Demonstrate a proof‑of‑concept quantum network within five years, linking multiple large‑scale quantum computers.
Use Cisco’s quantum networking and classical networking expertise to move entangled qubits between machines over longer distances. ^[35]

While this is extremely long‑dated, it reinforces Cisco’s desire to stay at the bleeding edge of compute and networking—a plus for investors with very long time horizons, but not a near‑term earnings driver.

How Wall Street and critics see CSCO now

Consensus: a solid AI‑leveraged compounder with moderate upside

Across Wall Street:

The average analyst rating is “Buy”, with a consensus price target around $84–85, ~10% above current levels. ^[36]
Several brokers, including Bank of America, UBS, KeyCorp and Citigroup, have raised targets into the mid‑80s to mid‑90s range after the AI‑heavy Q1 results. ^[37]

A recent Nasdaq/Zacks article framed CSCO as a stock that has already run 34.6% in a year yet may still have room to rise thanks to its AI push and growing security footprint. ^[38] Another Yahoo‑syndicated piece asks whether Cisco is “still fairly priced” after acquisition headlines and AI deals drove a roughly high‑20s to low‑30s percent gain in 2025, suggesting the stock is closer to fairly valued than deeply discounted. ^[39]

Skeptical voices: security lag, cyclicality and bubble fears

More cautious commentary focuses on:

Security growth lagging targets and underperforming best‑in‑class players like Palo Alto Networks (PANW); one recent comparison article argued that PANW’s rapid SASE and next‑gen security expansion contrasts with Cisco’s historically slower‑moving security portfolio. ^[40]
Articles from Simply Wall St and others that describe Cisco as “fairly valued” rather than obviously cheap, given mid‑single‑digit revenue growth and a near‑30x trailing multiple. ^[41]
Technical research labeling the stock more of a “Hold/Accumulate” after the post‑earnings pop, rather than a screaming momentum buy. ^[42]

On the macro side, Michael Burry—of The Big Short fame—has launched a blog where he argues that today’s AI boom shows uncomfortable similarities to the dot‑com bubble. He notes that in 2000 the Nasdaq was driven by profitable giants including Cisco, and warns that today’s AI leaders could be building out supply faster than sustainable demand. ^[43] Burry specifically likens Nvidia to “the Cisco” of the current cycle, using Cisco’s 75%+ peak‑to‑trough dot‑com crash as a cautionary tale. ^[44]

Importantly, Burry is not arguing that today’s Cisco is in a bubble; rather he’s using its history to warn that even dominant infrastructure suppliers can suffer long periods of underperformance when expectations become extreme.

Key risks and what to watch next

Here are the main issues CSCO investors should keep on the radar in the weeks and months ahead:

Execution in security and collaboration
- Security revenue declined 2% and collaboration 3% in Q1, even as networking and AI infrastructure soared. ^[45]
- Cisco’s stated target of 15–17% security growth will require a successful pivot to new, AI‑infused offerings and tighter integration of Splunk, EzDubs, NeuralFabric and other acquisitions. ^[46]
Sustainability of AI infrastructure demand
- The $1.3 billion in hyperscaler AI orders this quarter and $4+ billion target for FY26 are a big part of the bull case. ^[47]
- Any slowdown in AI capex, or aggressive pricing by rivals, could quickly compress those expectations.
Cyclical networking and macro risk
- Networking is still a capital spending‑driven, cyclical business. Campus refresh cycles and telco build‑outs can stall if macro conditions deteriorate. ^[48]
Integration and M&A risk
- Cisco is juggling Splunk, NeuralFabric, EzDubs, Aura Asset Intelligence and multiple venture bets like World Labs, all while pushing into AI and observability. ^[49]
- Missteps in integration could impact margins and slow innovation.
Valuation risk after a big run
- With the stock 46% above its 52‑week low and trading around 29x trailing earnings and ~18x forward, Cisco is no longer cheap on a classic value screen. ^[50]
- That doesn’t mean it’s in a bubble—but it does mean execution needs to stay strong to justify further upside.

Dates and catalysts to mark on the calendar

December 16, 2025 – 2025 Virtual Annual Meeting of Stockholders
Expect commentary on capital returns, AI strategy, and long‑term growth priorities. ^[51]
Next earnings (Q2 FY26)
Watch for:
- Updated numbers on AI orders and pipeline.
- Signs that security and collaboration growth are stabilizing or re‑accelerating.
- Margin trends as AI, security and high‑speed networking take a larger share of the mix. ^[52]
Progress updates on the AMD/HUMAIN JV and IBM quantum collaboration
While long‑dated, any concrete customer wins or deployments could further support the “AI infrastructure and future‑of‑compute” narrative around CSCO. ^[53]

Bottom line: how CSCO looks for investors today

Putting it all together on November 25, 2025:

Bull case: Cisco offers a rare combination of
- Blue‑chip balance sheet,
- 2%+ dividend yield,
- Exposure to AI infrastructure, enterprise AI platforms, and security,
- Plus a consensus “Buy” rating and moderate upside to the average target price. ^[54]
Bear (or cautious) case: The stock already reflects a lot of this optimism. Security is still playing catch‑up, AI capex could normalize, and Cisco’s multiple is no longer that of a sleepy, undervalued value stock but of a trusted AI‑leveraged compounder that needs to keep delivering. ^[55]

For investors considering CSCO today, the key questions are:

Do you believe Cisco can continue to convert AI hype into multi‑year orders, not just one strong fiscal year?
Are you comfortable owning a mega‑cap that may grow modestly but more reliably, with AI and security acting as incremental drivers rather than explosive hyper‑growth engines?
Does a ~2% yield plus high‑single‑digit to low‑double‑digit earnings growth fit your risk and return objectives at this valuation? ^[56]

If the answer to those questions is yes, Cisco can make sense as a core long‑term holding in the AI infrastructure and secure networking space. If you’re looking for hyper‑growth or are worried about an AI bubble, you may view today’s price as a good moment to be selective or wait for a better entry point.

As always, this article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Consider your own objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon, and consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.

Cisco CEO on latest quarter: AI demand from hyperscalers is accelerating