Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is back in the spotlight on December 18, 2025—this time for a mix of market optimism and headline risk. Shares are higher on the day as investors digest fresh analyst target increases and reaffirmed “Overweight” positioning from Morgan Stanley, while the company simultaneously faces intense attention from the cybersecurity community after warnings that China-linked attackers are actively exploiting an unpatched, maximum-severity issue in Cisco Secure Email products. [1]
For investors, the story isn’t just about today’s price action. It’s about how Cisco’s growth narrative—AI networking demand, improving fundamentals, and shareholder returns—stacks up against operational and reputational risks tied to security incidents and customer trust.
Cisco stock price action on December 18, 2025
Cisco stock is trading at $77.15 in the latest update, up about 1.5% from the prior close. The session has ranged between an intraday low of $76.10 and high of $77.80, with volume around 6.14 million shares at the time of the update.
That modest gain comes amid a broader flow of research notes and company updates that are giving investors new inputs for 2026 expectations—while also forcing a reassessment of near-term security and remediation headlines.
The biggest headline risk: Cisco warns of active exploitation of a critical zero‑day
One of the most market-relevant developments for Cisco today is a security crisis unfolding in real time.
Multiple reports published across December 17–18 say Cisco warned customers that attackers are exploiting a previously unknown (zero-day) vulnerability affecting Cisco Secure Email Gateway and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager appliances running AsyncOS. Critically, early guidance emphasized that no patch was available at the time of the advisory—and that organizations with confirmed compromise may need to wipe and rebuild appliances to fully remove persistence mechanisms. [2]
What’s affected and why it matters to enterprises
A key technical detail shaping potential exposure: the issue is tied to environments where the Spam Quarantine feature is enabled and reachable from the internet. That configuration is not necessarily universal, but it is plausible in 24/7 operations where administrators want remote access to quarantine workflows. [3]
Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency (CSA) published an alert dated December 18, 2025, describing the issue as CVE‑2025‑20393 with a CVSS v3.1 score of 10/10, noting it is reportedly being exploited, and warning exploitation could enable arbitrary code execution with root privileges under the specified conditions. [4]
Cisco’s Talos intelligence team added more color: it said it discovered a campaign targeting these products and assessed (with “moderate confidence”) that the actor—tracked as UAT‑9686—is a Chinese‑nexus group. Talos described tooling that includes a custom persistence mechanism (“AquaShell”), plus tunneling and log-purging utilities, and said the activity has been ongoing since at least late November 2025, with Cisco becoming aware on December 10. [5]
Why this matters for Cisco stock
Security incidents don’t always move a stock immediately—but they can influence:
- Customer renewal cycles (especially in security and email protection stacks)
- Support and remediation costs
- Regulatory scrutiny and disclosure cadence
- Brand trust at a time when Cisco is pitching “secure infrastructure” as part of its AI-era platform story
Even if exposure is limited by configuration, the “no patch / rebuild guidance” dynamic can create real operational friction for customers—exactly the kind of event CIOs remember during vendor reviews. [6]
Shareholder vote: Cisco expands its stock incentive plan
While cybersecurity dominated headlines, Cisco also posted a notable corporate governance update tied to share-based compensation.
In an SEC filing covering Cisco’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders held December 16, 2025, the company reported that shareholders approved an Amended and Restated 2005 Stock Incentive Plan. Among the approved changes: an increase in the number of shares available for issuance by 57,490,000 shares, and an extension/termination feature tying plan expiration to the 2030 Annual Meeting. [7]
Cisco also disclosed voting outcomes for other meeting items, including director elections, advisory votes on executive compensation, and auditor ratification—plus a stockholder proposal related to inclusion programs that did not pass. [8]
For stock investors, incentive-plan expansions typically land as a neutral-to-mild dilution consideration (depending on future issuance), but they are also a retention lever—important when competition for AI infrastructure, security, and software talent remains intense.
Analyst outlook: Morgan Stanley raises Cisco target to $91 as “AI trade” broadens
On the bullish side of the ledger, Cisco is still benefiting from the market’s widening view of “AI winners.”
A note carried by The Fly and republished on TipRanks says Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Cisco to $91 from $82 and kept an Overweight rating. The commentary pointed to how the 2025 AI trade broadened beyond semiconductors into infrastructure, with particular emphasis on optical/infrastructure exposure and selectivity into 2026. [9]
Independent analyst-tracking pages also list the same target move (from $82 to $91) dated Dec. 17, 2025, reinforcing that the adjustment is now circulating widely across market data feeds. [10]
Where consensus targets sit now
Cisco’s price target picture depends on which dataset investors follow—but the “center of gravity” remains in the mid-to-high $80s:
- TipRanks: average 12‑month target $88.55 (13.16% upside from the referenced price), with a stated range $76 to $100 and a “Moderate Buy” consensus based on recent ratings activity. [11]
- StockAnalysis: average target $84.88 with targets ranging $63 to $100, showing a “Buy” consensus in its compilation. [12]
- Fintel via Nasdaq: reported an average one‑year target of $86.20 (as of Dec. 5, 2025), with a wide range from $68.89 to $105.00. [13]
The spread is meaningful: the high-end targets imply Cisco can hold (or expand) a premium multiple as AI-driven infrastructure budgets remain durable, while the low-end targets reflect classic risks for mature networking vendors—competition, cyclical enterprise spending, and execution drag.
Fundamentals check: Cisco’s latest results and 2026 guidance
Cisco’s most recent quarterly print (fiscal Q1 2026, period ended October 25, 2025) is providing real ballast to the bullish case.
Cisco reported:
- Revenue of $14.9 billion, up 8% year over year
- GAAP EPS of $0.72 and non‑GAAP EPS of $1.00
- Segment notes showing Networking up 15% and Observability up 6%, while Security declined 2% and Collaboration declined 3% [14]
Cisco’s outlook for the next quarter and full year
Cisco’s official guidance (also dated in that earnings release) includes:
- Q2 FY2026 revenue:$15.0B–$15.2B
- Q2 FY2026 non‑GAAP EPS:$1.01–$1.03 (GAAP EPS $0.69–$0.74)
- FY2026 revenue:$60.2B–$61.0B
- FY2026 non‑GAAP EPS:$4.08–$4.14 (GAAP EPS $2.87–$2.98) [15]
Cisco noted that margin/EPS guidance includes the estimated impact of tariffs under current trade policy—an ongoing macro sensitivity investors continue to track across U.S. tech hardware supply chains. [16]
M&A and platform positioning
Cisco also disclosed it closed an acquisition in the quarter: Aura Asset Intelligence, an asset and risk intelligence solution created by Discovered Intelligence (Toronto). While small compared with Cisco’s larger platform moves, it underscores Cisco’s continued “security/observability + network” convergence strategy. [17]
Dividend and shareholder returns remain part of the CSCO story
Income investors are still getting paid to hold Cisco.
Cisco declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, payable January 21, 2026, to shareholders of record as of January 2, 2026. [18]
For many long-term holders, Cisco’s mix of dividend return and buyback capacity has historically helped cushion cycles—though valuation and earnings growth remain the primary drivers of upside from here.
What investors should watch next for Cisco stock
Cisco’s near-term setup is unusually “two-track”: optimism on AI-linked infrastructure spending colliding with security incident risk.
Key catalysts to monitor in coming days and weeks:
- Patch/remediation updates for the Secure Email zero‑day
- Watch for Cisco’s permanent remediation timeline and whether enterprise customers report broader exposure or material disruption. [19]
- Follow-on disclosures and advisory updates
- Public sector and cybersecurity agencies are already flagging the vulnerability; additional official actions can raise enterprise urgency and affect procurement sentiment. [20]
- AI infrastructure demand signals into 1H 2026
- Morgan Stanley’s raised target effectively frames Cisco as an “AI infrastructure beneficiary,” but investors may get more selective as multiples rise—meaning execution matters more than narrative. [21]
- Cisco’s Q2 results versus guidance
- Management is guiding to $15.0B–$15.2B revenue and $1.01–$1.03 non‑GAAP EPS in Q2; hitting (or beating) those targets will matter in a higher-expectations tape. [22]
Bottom line: Cisco’s bull case is intact—but security headlines can reshape the risk premium
As of December 18, 2025, Cisco stock is higher and analyst targets are trending up, reflecting confidence that AI-era networking, observability, and infrastructure refresh cycles can support steady growth into fiscal 2026. [23]
At the same time, the Secure Email zero‑day exploitation story is exactly the kind of “unknown unknown” that can change how the market prices a large enterprise technology vendor—especially one that competes on trust and security posture. [24]
References
1. www.tipranks.com, 2. techcrunch.com, 3. techcrunch.com, 4. www.csa.gov.sg, 5. blog.talosintelligence.com, 6. www.csoonline.com, 7. www.sec.gov, 8. www.sec.gov, 9. www.tipranks.com, 10. stockanalysis.com, 11. www.tipranks.com, 12. stockanalysis.com, 13. www.nasdaq.com, 14. newsroom.cisco.com, 15. newsroom.cisco.com, 16. newsroom.cisco.com, 17. newsroom.cisco.com, 18. newsroom.cisco.com, 19. techcrunch.com, 20. www.csa.gov.sg, 21. www.tipranks.com, 22. newsroom.cisco.com, 23. www.tipranks.com, 24. www.csoonline.com
