Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is finishing December 9 in a strong position, hovering just under a key psychological line at $80 after another AI-fueled rally.
The stock closed regular trading at about $79.51, up roughly 0.8% on the day from the previous close near $78.86, and then ticked slightly higher in after-hours to around $79.53 as of 8:00 p.m. ET. [1]
That move comes on a day when the broader market was mixed: the S&P 500 slipped about 0.1%, the Dow fell roughly 0.4%, while the Nasdaq was roughly flat, as traders stayed cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting. [2]
Here’s what happened to Cisco stock after the bell on December 9, 2025, and what matters most before the opening bell on December 10.
Quick snapshot for traders in a hurry
- Close (Dec 9, 2025): ~$79.51
- After-hours: ~$79.53 (+0.03% vs close) [3]
- Day’s range: ~$78.51 – $79.88, brushing a 52‑week high near $80.06 [4]
- YTD gain: roughly +35–38% in 2025, outpacing the S&P 500 [5]
- Valuation: P/E ~30.7, forward P/E ~19, dividend yield about 2.0–2.1% with a $1.64 annual payout (≈$0.41 per quarter) [6]
- Key near-term level:$80 resistance, with short-term technical targets between $84 and $92 in many bullish scenarios [7]
- Main themes:
Cisco stock after the bell on December 9: near-record and still grinding higher
During Tuesday’s session, Cisco opened around $78.79, climbed to an intraday high near $79.88, and finished regular hours at $79.51, just a few cents below its 52‑week peak around $80.06. [10]
After the close, after-hours trading nudged the stock to about $79.53, a tiny 0.03% move but symbolically important: buyers are still willing to pay up near the highs rather than immediately taking profits. [11]
A few structural details matter here:
- Market cap: about $314 billion, firmly in megacap territory [12]
- Volume: roughly 15.7 million shares traded on the day versus a 30‑day average near 22.5 million – an above‑normal move in price without an extreme spike in volume. [13]
- 52‑week range: roughly $52.11 – $80.06, so shares are trading essentially at the top of their one‑year channel. [14]
Relative to the main U.S. indices, Cisco outperformed on December 9: it gained around 1% while the S&P 500 and Dow slipped modestly and the Nasdaq barely moved. [15]
So after the bell, CSCO looks like a leadership name: near a breakout, in a rising trend, with the overall tape cautious but not panicked.
Why Cisco is rallying: AI infrastructure, Q1 beats and raised guidance
The price action on December 9 doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it sits on top of a very bullish earnings and guidance backdrop.
Q1 FY 2026: beat and raise
On November 12, 2025, Cisco reported results for fiscal Q1 2026 that beat expectations and led management to raise full‑year guidance: TechStock²+2Trading News+2
- Revenue: about $14.9 billion, up roughly 8% year‑over‑year, slightly ahead of consensus
- Non‑GAAP EPS:$1.00, up around 9–10% from last year and above forecasts
- Segment highlights (YoY):
- Networking: ≈$7.8 billion, up ~15%
- Security: around $2.0 billion, slightly down as the Splunk portfolio shifts to more subscription revenue
- Services: about $3.8 billion, modest growth
The headline story is the AI build‑out:
- Cisco booked roughly $1.3 billion in AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers in Q1, plus additional demand from enterprises and sovereign customers. TechStock²+1
- Management now expects about $3 billion in AI infrastructure revenue in FY 2026 from these hyperscaler deals alone. TechStock²+1
This AI push rests on Cisco’s Silicon One chips and high‑speed optical networking gear, including platforms like the Cisco 8223 router, designed for massive data‑center and AI workloads. TechStock²+1
Full‑year FY 2026 guidance
Cisco’s updated guidance now calls for: TechStock²
- Revenue: about $60.2–$61.0 billion
- Non‑GAAP EPS: around $4.08–$4.14
- GAAP EPS: roughly $2.87–$2.98
That implies mid‑single‑digit revenue growth and high‑single‑digit EPS growth, on top of a multi‑decade dividend and buyback track record. TechStock²+2StockAnalysis+2
In other words: the fundamentals now match the AI narrative, which is why the stock has managed such a strong 2025 rally without completely losing the plot on earnings.
Fresh December 9 news: big money buying, AI skilling push and options “whale” buzz
Several same‑day news items on December 9 help explain why CSCO stayed bid into the close and after hours.
1. Institutional investors keep adding Cisco
New regulatory‑filing summaries highlight that large institutions are still buying the stock despite the run‑up:
- State Street Corp increased its already huge Cisco position by about 0.6% in Q2, to roughly 194.7 million shares, or about 4.9% of the company, representing a stake worth over $13 billion at the time. [16]
- Axa S.A. boosted its Cisco holdings by ~10.1% to around 3.32 million shares, making CSCO one of its larger equity positions. [17]
MarketBeat’s broader data shows that around 73% of Cisco’s float is in institutional hands, underscoring the “large‑cap core holding” status the stock currently enjoys. [18]
From a balance‑sheet perspective, these filings reiterate that Cisco is not a leveraged moonshot:
- Debt‑to‑equity: ~0.46
- Current ratio: ~0.93
- Net margin: around 18% with return on equity north of 27% [19]
2. Options “whale” activity
Cisco also made a Benzinga list of information‑technology stocks with notable “whale alerts” on Tuesday – basically flags for unusually large options or block trades in names like Cisco, Nvidia and others. [20]
That doesn’t tell you direction, but it does confirm heightened interest from sophisticated traders right as CSCO presses on $80.
3. CSR and AI skills: Mumbai becomes a flagship community
On December 9, Cisco announced that Mumbai has been named the first international community in its “40 Communities” initiative, along with the creation of a Centre of Excellence for AI, Networking and Entrepreneurship in partnership with Indian institutions and NGOs. [21]
The program aims to:
- Train 100,000 students in AI and networking over three years
- Expand AI and cybersecurity training to 2.7 million people across India by 2028
- Support startups working on urban sustainability challenges in areas like water and waste management
This sort of news doesn’t change tomorrow’s opening print, but it reinforces Cisco’s positioning as both AI infrastructure vendor and skills ecosystem player, which many long‑term ESG and institutional investors watch closely.
Technical picture: $80 is the line in the silicon
From a chart perspective, Cisco is acting like a textbook breakout candidate.
Short‑term trend: bullish
A detailed technical note from Economies.com, published on December 9, describes CSCO as: [22]
- Trading above its 50‑day simple moving average
- Riding a rising short‑term trendline
- Showing improving momentum after the RSI bounced from oversold levels
Their conclusion: today’s forecast is “bullish”, with a view that a clean break above $80 would likely set up a push toward $85 as the next big resistance zone.
Trend-following models: strong buy… with an upper band near the low‑90s
Technical service StockInvest.us currently labels Cisco a “Strong Buy candidate”, noting that: [23]
- The stock has risen in 8 of the last 10 trading days
- Price is sitting mid‑channel inside a strong rising trend
- Their model assigns roughly 17–18% upside over the next three months, with a statistically derived 90% range that runs roughly $88–$95 if current momentum persists
Quant view from CoinCodex: bullish indicators, cautious path
Quant/technical site CoinCodex paints a slightly more nuanced picture: [24]
- Current price used in their model: ≈$79.52, almost exactly where Cisco actually closed
- Technical sentiment: “Bullish”, with 26 out of 26 indicators flashing positive
- Key moving averages:
- 50‑day SMA around $72.7
- 200‑day SMA near $66.4
- Both firmly below today’s price – classic uptrend structure
However, its short‑term forecast actually leans mildly negative:
- 5‑day prediction: ~$78.90
- 3‑month prediction: ~$73.78
- 1‑year target: about $65.80 (roughly –16% from today’s price)
- For December 2025 as a whole, it projects a band between about $78.32 and $86.15, with an average near $82.47
So the machines are basically saying: trend is up, but don’t assume a straight line higher from here.
What Wall Street and independent analysts are saying about CSCO
Consensus ratings and price targets
Across major aggregators:
- MarketBeat:
- Consensus rating: “Moderate Buy”
- Average 12‑month target: about $84.14 (≈5.8% upside vs. ~$79.5)
- Target range:$63 (low) to $100 (high), based on 26 analysts [25]
- StockAnalysis:
- Consensus: “Buy”, based on 17 analysts
- Average target: ~$84.31 (≈6% upside) [26]
Some banks and brokers raised their price targets after the November earnings beat, with fresh highs in the $90–$100 zone from more aggressive shops. TechStock²+1
TradingNEWS: AI orders could support targets up to ~$92
A December 8 TradingNEWS piece focused on Cisco’s record AI orders and upgraded guidance, arguing that: [27]
- Q1 revenue (~$14.9B) and EPS ($1.00) underscored a genuine growth acceleration
- AI infrastructure orders of $1.3B (plus ~$200M from non‑hyperscalers) could support $3B in AI revenue in FY 2026
- At current valuations, their preferred 12‑month target range is about $88–$92
That’s more bullish than the average sell‑side target, but broadly consistent with what many technical models see as the upper end of a plausible 2026 path if AI capex stays hot.
Fundamental backdrop and valuation
Pulling together Cisco’s trailing fundamentals: [28]
- FY 2025 revenue: ≈$56.65B, up ~5.3% YoY
- FY 2025 net income: ≈$10.18B, slightly down (~–1.4%) as the model shifts more toward subscriptions
- TTM revenue: ~57.7B; TTM net income: ~10.3B
- Trailing P/E: ≈30–31
- Forward P/E: ≈19
- Dividend: $1.64 per share annually (~2.0–2.1% yield), with 14 years of consecutive growth and ≈2.6% average dividend growth over the past three years [29]
That combo – moderate growth, real cash returns, and AI exposure – is why many analysts describe Cisco as a hybrid of growth and income, not a pure AI momentum stock.
Key things to watch before the market open on December 10, 2025
Between now and the opening bell, a few variables could shape how CSCO trades at the open.
1. Does pre-market push Cisco through $80?
After-hours trading has kept Cisco pinned just below $80, but the move has been tiny (~$0.02 above the close). [30]
Into the December 10 pre‑market, watch:
- Pre‑market prints above $80: that would signal that buyers are still eager even without regular‑session liquidity.
- A fade back toward $78–$79: that would be consistent with CoinCodex’s short‑term forecast for a mild pullback, and might indicate traders locking in gains ahead of the Fed. [31]
Given how close the stock is to its 52‑week high, order‑flow around that level could set the tone for the rest of the week.
2. Macro: Fed meeting, yields and tech risk appetite
The broader market on December 9 was clearly in “wait for the Fed” mode, with stocks and yields wobbling but not capitulating. [32]
Ahead of the December 10 open:
- Any overnight move in Treasury yields or Fed rate‑cut expectations can quickly spill into large‑cap tech.
- If futures improve and the Nasdaq opens higher, Cisco could have an easier time breaking and holding above $80.
- If risk sentiment sours before the Fed, Cisco could see profit‑taking simply because it’s near highs and liquid.
3. Read‑through from peers and AI‑linked earnings
Cisco doesn’t have an earnings print on deck tomorrow – MarketBeat and Benzinga show no near‑term earnings date or split announcement. [33]
But traders will be watching:
- AI infrastructure peers (Broadcom, Arista, network and security names) for any guidance changes on cloud/AI capex. [34]
- Broader tech commentary tied to the Fed meeting, especially if there’s talk of AI valuations or capex cycles overheating.
4. Short-term support levels
From a purely technical, “where do buyers show up?” perspective: [35]
- Immediate resistance: $80–$80.50 (recent high plus psychological level)
- Nearby support:
- The prior close around $78.86
- The short‑term trendline/cluster in the mid‑$70s, well above the 50‑day moving average near $72–73
If futures open weak and Cisco gaps down, how it behaves around those first support zones will tell you whether this is a routine pullback or something more serious.
Risks and caveats investors should keep in mind
Even in a bullish setup, a few risks deserve attention:
- AI capex cyclicality
AI infrastructure spending by the hyperscalers can be feast or famine. Cisco is now tied tightly to that cycle; any slowdown or pause in AI networking build‑outs could hit the very growth engine powering the current rally. [36] - Security transition and Splunk integration
Cisco’s security revenue dipped slightly in Q1 as the company digests Splunk and shifts more business to cloud subscriptions – great for recurring revenue metrics but sometimes a drag on near‑term reported sales. If the transition takes longer than expected, security growth could look underwhelming. TechStock²+1 - Tariffs and regulatory risk
Cisco’s FY 2026 guidance already bakes in some tariff pressure, but further trade restrictions on networking or AI hardware could squeeze margins. TechStock²+1 - Cybersecurity and product vulnerabilities
Earlier in 2025, researchers disclosed serious weaknesses in some Cisco devices, including hard‑coded credentials in certain small‑business routers and a later vulnerability exploited by state‑linked hackers. Cisco has issued patches, but such incidents highlight ongoing reputational and legal risk in security‑sensitive infrastructure. [37] - Valuation and “late to the party” risk
With the stock near record highs, a P/E north of 30 and heavy institutional ownership, new buyers are not early. Quant models like CoinCodex even see potential double‑digit downside over the next year despite bullish technicals today. [38]
Bottom line heading into December 10
After the bell on December 9, Cisco looks like a classic leader at resistance:
- Price near all‑time and 52‑week highs, just under $80
- Fundamentals backed by real AI orders, raised guidance and strong cash returns
- Institutions still buying, while chart‑based and quant models mostly agree the trend is up – even if some expect a bumpy road
Going into the December 10 open, the main questions are:
- Does CSCO finally clear and hold above $80, confirming the breakout case?
- Or does the combo of Fed uncertainty, stretched sentiment and algorithmic caution trigger a short‑term pullback toward the high‑$70s?
Either way, Cisco has moved from “forgotten old‑guard networking name” back to the center of the AI infrastructure conversation – which is exactly why traders are watching every tick around that $80 line.
References
1. www.google.com, 2. finance.yahoo.com, 3. www.google.com, 4. www.google.com, 5. coincodex.com, 6. stockanalysis.com, 7. www.economies.com, 8. www.marketbeat.com, 9. stockinvest.us, 10. stockanalysis.com, 11. public.com, 12. www.google.com, 13. www.google.com, 14. www.google.com, 15. finance.yahoo.com, 16. www.marketbeat.com, 17. www.marketbeat.com, 18. www.marketbeat.com, 19. www.marketbeat.com, 20. www.benzinga.com, 21. news-blogs.cisco.com, 22. www.economies.com, 23. stockinvest.us, 24. coincodex.com, 25. www.marketbeat.com, 26. stockanalysis.com, 27. www.tradingnews.com, 28. stockanalysis.com, 29. www.digrin.com, 30. public.com, 31. coincodex.com, 32. finance.yahoo.com, 33. www.benzinga.com, 34. www.tipranks.com, 35. www.economies.com, 36. www.tradingnews.com, 37. www.csoonline.com, 38. coincodex.com
