Investors Sniff at Cisco's AI-Powered Profit Surge -- WSJ

By Ed Ballard

Cisco's quarterly profit jumped 50% year-over-year as the AI buildout, combined with customers' fear of cyberattacks, led to what Chief Executive Chuck Robbins called the strongest demand for the company's networking equipment in decades.

But Cisco's stock dived 9% in early trading. The company's forecasts apparently weren't good enough at a time when investors are on the lookout for even the slightest crack in AI bullishness.

Cisco said gross margins in its current quarter, the first of its financial year, are likely to come in between 65% and 66%, down slightly from 66.3% in the just-finished quarter. Analysts attributed the drop to a slight shift in the sales mix toward lower-margin hardware.

Earnings guidance of $1.32 to $1.34 per share for the current quarter also points to a drop-off in later quarters, given the full-year estimates of $5.05 to $5.11 a share. Cisco is likely being conservative with its revenue projections, analysts at UBS wrote: "We therefore see any share-price weakness as an attractive buying opportunity."

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August 13, 2026 10:12 ET (14:12 GMT)