Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins speaks on the Semafor World Economic system summit in Washington on April 15, 2026.
Alex Wong | Getty Pictures
Cisco shares soared 17% in prolonged buying and selling on Wednesday after the networking firm issued outcomes and steering that topped Wall Avenue’s projections.
The corporate stated it is slicing its workforce this quarter by fewer than 4,000 jobs, representing lower than 5% of complete staff.
Here is how the corporate did compared with LSEG consensus:
- Earnings per share: $1.06 adjusted vs. $1.04 anticipated
- Income: $15.84 billion vs. $15.56 billion anticipated
Income elevated 12% within the quarter ended April 25, from $14.15 billion a yr earlier, Cisco stated in an announcement. Web earnings rose to $3.37 billion, or 85 cents per share, from $2.49 billion, or 62 cents per share, a yr earlier.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, Cisco referred to as for $1.16 to $1.18 in adjusted earnings per share on $16.7 billion to $16.9 billion in income. Analysts polled by LSEG had been in search of $1.07 in adjusted earnings per share on $15.82 billion in income.
Cisco stated it has acquired $5.3 billion in synthetic intelligence infrastructure and hyperscaler orders thus far this yr, and raised its anticipated orders for the fiscal yr to $9 billion, up from $5 billion. The corporate stated it expects fiscal-year income in that market of $4 billion, up from a previous projection of $3 billion.
Whereas Cisco has trailed lots of its information heart friends within the AI race, Wall Avenue has been rallying to the corporate’s story of late, pushing the inventory to a report late final yr, lastly surpassing its dot-com excessive. The shares have continued to climb this yr, gaining 33%, topping the Nasdaq’s 14% advance.
Ought to the inventory preserve its after-hours beneficial properties via Thursday, it will mark the sharpest rally since 2002.
CEO Chuck Robbins wrote in a weblog submit on Wednesday that the most recent spherical of job cuts will start on Could 14. Cisco is the most recent firm to announce head rely reductions tied to AI.
“The businesses that can win within the AI period might be these with focus, urgency, and the self-discipline to repeatedly shift funding towards the areas the place demand and long-term worth creation are strongest,” Robbins stated. “I am assured Cisco might be a kind of winners. This implies making exhausting choices — about the place we make investments, how we’re organized, and the way our price construction displays the chance in entrance of us.”
Cisco stated in a submitting that severance and different prices will end in pre-tax prices of $1 billion, and that the corporate will acknowledge about $450 million of that within the fiscal fourth quarter.
In the course of the third quarter, Cisco introduced switches and routers that use its next-generation processor. The corporate additionally debuted a leaderboard for rating generative AI fashions primarily based on their robustness towards cybersecurity assaults.
Cisco’s networking income elevated 25% to $8.82 billion, exceeding the $8.47 billion consensus amongst analysts polled by StreetAccount. Safety income was flat at about $2 billion, in comparison with StreetAccount’s $1.99 billion consensus.
Executives will focus on the outcomes with analysts on a convention name beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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