CiscoCSCOHOLDNov 20, 2023Stock 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.
CSCO is seeing similar industry issues that other companies are seeing which essentially has been a buildup of product at end customers who are now focusing on deployment in the short-term as opposed to buying new product, alongside some general macro pressures. It is not a name that excites us a whole lot and has been appearing to lose market share to competitors over the years. With that said, as a large, slower growth company trading at 12X forward earnings and with a dividend, it might not be our 'favourite' name out there but hard for us to be overly critical of it at these levels as well. It has underperformed, and the recent earnings miss will likely keep it quiet for at least a couple of quarters. We would thus consider it OK but not good enough to add to at this time.
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