In the latest quarter, Cisco’s security business reported a 2% decline in product and subscription sales, marking the first sequential drop in two years. Revenues in the security segment fell to approximately $2.1 billion, weighed down by legacy appliance demand and the accelerated migration of workloads to public cloud providers. Management highlighted that traditional on-premise firewall and intrusion detection hardware sales contracted by roughly 5%, while software-as-a-service security subscriptions grew 8%. Executives noted that next-generation offerings—such as the Secure Access Service Edge platform—have secured over 150 enterprise contracts since launch, suggesting the potential for a rebound in bookings by the second half of the fiscal year.

Braun Stacey Associates raised its position in Cisco by 7.5% during the third quarter, acquiring an additional 23,800 shares to hold a total of 341,208, valued at $23.35 million on the date of filing. Postrock Partners, Mount Vernon Associates, Wynn Capital, Old North State Trust and Lion Street Advisors also modestly increased positions, collectively adding 701 shares across the period. Institutional and hedge fund ownership now stands at 73.33% of outstanding shares, underscoring continued confidence in Cisco’s networking and security portfolio despite near-term product headwinds.

Since mid-November, five major brokerages have raised their outlook on Cisco, with price targets lifted into the mid-$80s and consensus rating upgraded to Moderate Buy. The company reported quarterly revenue of $14.88 billion, up 7.5% year-over-year, and non-GAAP EPS of $1.00, beating the consensus estimate by $0.02. Return on equity reached 27.3% and net margin stood at 18.4%. Cisco issued guidance for fiscal 2026 EPS in a range of $4.080 to $4.140 and Q2 EPS between $1.010 and $1.030. Management reiterated its dividend commitment, declaring a quarterly payout of $0.41 per share, representing a 2.1% yield based on the record date of January 2.