Cisco Stock Edges Lower Premarket Despite Q4 Beat: Here’s Why

Cisco stock slipped in Thursday’s early premarket session as investors apparently didn’t savor the small quarterly beat and an in-line guidance.

The San Jose, California-based company reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.99, a 14% year-over-year (YoY) increase, and revenue of $14.7 billion, representing 8% growth.

The results exceeded the Fiscal.ai-compiled consensus estimate of $0.99 and $14.2 billion. 

CEO and Chair Chuck Robbins said, “We delivered a strong close to fiscal 2025, driven by our accelerated innovation and solid execution.”

The executive noted that the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure orders Cisco received from webscale customers in fiscal 2025 were more than double its original target.

CFO Mark Patterson said, “In Q4, revenue, gross margin, and operating margin were at the high end of our guidance ranges, earnings per share was above the guidance range and we delivered solid operating cash flow.”

The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, payable on Oct. 22, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Oct. 3.

On the earnings call, Patterson said that the company would continue to focus on durable growth with financial discipline, driving operating leverage and maintaining capital returns, according to a transcript from Koyfin. 

The company expects adjusted EPS of $0.97-$0.99 and revenue in the range of $14.65 billion to $14.85 billion for the first quarter. Analysts, on average, estimate $0.98 and $14.64 billion. 

For fiscal year 2026, the company expects adjusted earnings to be in the range of $4.00 to $4.06 and revenue to be in the range of $59 billion to $60 billion, aligning with the consensus estimates of $4.02 and $59.59 billion, respectively.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward Cisco stock remained ‘extremely bullish’ (93/100) by early Thursday, with the degree of optimism improving from the previous day. The message volume on the stream was also ‘extremely high.”

Cisco stock has gained 21% this year. In premarket, the stock slipped 0.60% to $69.85.

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