NEW YORK, May 8, 2026, 16:04 EDT
- Cisco jumped over 4% in late Friday action, driving the stock close to its all-time highs ahead of next week’s earnings.
- The company will release its fiscal third-quarter numbers after markets shut on May 13.
- According to AlphaStreet, which referenced a consensus from 20 analysts, Wall Street is looking for adjusted earnings of $1.04 per share on $15.56 billion in revenue.
Cisco Systems stock surged Friday, jumping 4.7% to $96.52 and touching $97.00 earlier in the session. Investors snapped up shares of the network-equipment giant before its fiscal third-quarter report—a key moment for Wall Street’s take on the company’s artificial intelligence ambitions, market data showed.
Timing is key here. Cisco has spent the last year pushing the idea that AI-driven data-center demand should translate beyond just order books, delivering real gains in both revenue and margins. The company’s report on May 13 lands after a broad rally across U.S. stocks and a robust tech-led earnings stretch that’s continued to steer investors toward the bigger technology plays.
Cisco is on deck to post its quarterly results for the period ending April 25, dropping numbers after the bell on Wednesday. The earnings call follows at 1:30 p.m. Pacific, or 4:30 p.m. Eastern. That timing puts Cisco right alongside other tech and infrastructure stocks analysts are tracking for fresh signals that AI investment is reaching beyond the chip sector.
Analysts are looking for only slight gains. According to AlphaStreet, the consensus from 20 analysts points to earnings of $1.04 per share on revenue of $15.56 billion. Estimates for revenue cluster between $15.50 billion and $15.83 billion. The adjusted, or non-GAAP, earnings figure strips out certain costs that companies argue aren’t part of everyday business.
Cisco set a high mark with its latest results. Second-quarter revenue hit $15.3 billion, a 10% increase from the same period last year. Orders for AI infrastructure from hyperscalers—those big cloud players running AI data centers—reached $2.1 billion. The company’s outlook for fiscal 2026 put revenue in the $61.2 billion to $61.7 billion range.
Back then, Chief Executive Chuck Robbins claimed Cisco was ready to provide “trusted infrastructure” for the AI era. Chief Financial Officer Mark Patterson described demand as “strong” and “broad-based.” Investors, though, are still waiting for newer evidence—next week should offer a clearer look. Cisco Newsroom
Cisco said Thursday that Robbins and Patterson are set to join J.P. Morgan’s technology, media and communications conference in Boston on May 18 and 19. The company’s lineup of investor meetings stretches through June, with stops in Hong Kong, San Francisco, New York and London, giving management multiple opportunities to address expectations following the results.
Competition is heating up. Cisco’s latest AI networking move throws it directly into the ring with Broadcom and Nvidia—key players supplying the technology behind high-speed interconnects for AI chips in sprawling data centers. Back in February, Reuters reported that Cisco’s Silicon One G300 chip, designed to accelerate traffic within these large-scale AI setups, is slated to hit the market in the second half of 2026.
There’s a catch: orders aren’t guaranteed profits. Cisco posted an adjusted gross margin of 67.5% for the second quarter—shy of the 68.14% analysts had penciled in, Reuters noted. Rising memory-chip prices ate into costs. “Margin pressure took some shine off the report,” said Jake Behan, head of capital markets at Direxion. Reuters
Guidance next week looms just as large as the headline results. Investors have their eyes on three main points: Are AI orders still climbing? Are the big cloud clients actually converting those orders into real revenue? And with component costs still squeezed, can Cisco keep margins intact?
