CiscoCSCOCOMMENTSep 20, 2017Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Sep 04, 2026. Market Open.
Like Apple it was sort of a sleeper last year. It sells processes and analogue chips, very different than GPU's. Is involved in networking products and services. The AI stack explosion needed their products and technology. It is fully priced according to analysts' price targets.
Kudos on that choice, because it's not been a market darling (since the dot-com bubble). Riding coattails of stronger players in the space, catching the halo effect. The old adage: "No one ever went broke taking a profit" -- good risk management.
Prefers, and owns, ANET.
Part of IT infrastructure, but $27B acquisition of Splunk really helped drive security business. Finally hit a new high (previous high was March 27, 2000). Phenomenal allocator of capital. Compelling buy. Every year, buys back stock and raises dividend.
Finally growing revenues again, he's looking for mid-high single-digit revenue growth. AI will bring a much higher recurring revenue stream. Its solutions are so embedded in businesses, he's not worried about clients trying to go it alone with AI.
A solid technology company that is still run by its founder. These great companies, where you have a visionary founder that is still with a company, do very, very well. This company has had some short term disruptions with a couple of newer companies that are taking some of the higher end stuff, but this company dominates the Internet business, in the sense of the switches, etc., and has enough money to out-engineer anybody that wants to compete with them. It is like buying General Motors in 1955. They own the market and are going to own it for a long time yet.