Summary of Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) Earnings Call Company Overview - **Company**: Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) - **Market Cap**: $340.8 billion - **Enterprise Value**: $351.5 billion - **Industry**: Networking Equipment and Solutions Key Financial Highlights - **F2Q26 EPS**: $1.04, beating guidance of $1.01-$1.03 and consensus of $1.02 [16][18] - **F2Q26 Revenue**: $15.3 billion, up 10% year-over-year, exceeding guidance of $15.0-$15.2 billion [18] - **Networking Revenue**: $8.3 billion, up 21% year-over-year, beating consensus of $7.7 billion [18] - **Security Revenue**: $2.0 billion, down 4% year-over-year, missing consensus of $2.2 billion [18] - **Gross Margin**: 67.5%, down 120 basis points year-over-year, below guidance of 67.5%-68.5% [18][15] - **F3Q26 Guidance**: Revenue of $15.4-$15.6 billion, Non-GAAP EPS of $1.02-$1.04 [17] Core Business Insights - **Networking Orders**: Grew 18% year-over-year, with significant contributions from campus networking refresh and Wi-Fi 7 upgrades [15] - **AI Infrastructure Orders**: Increased to $2.1 billion from $1.3 billion in F1Q26, with 60% from systems and 40% from optics [15] - **Security Segment Challenges**: Continued decline in legacy products and transition to cloud subscriptions affecting revenue [15] - **New Product Growth**: Newer offerings like Secure Access and AI Defense represent 1/3 of the security segment, expected to drive future growth [15] Strategic Actions and Outlook - **Gross Margin Pressure**: Expected to remain under pressure due to higher commodity costs and business mix [15] - **Memory Price Management**: Strategies include price increases and updated contracts to manage memory costs [15] - **Long-term Growth Framework**: EPS growth of 6-8% expected, with revenue growth of 4-6% [15] Risks and Opportunities - **Upside Risks**: Include hybrid work trends, multi-cloud architecture adoption, and increased edge computing use cases [24] - **Downside Risks**: Competition from lower-cost providers and potential margin degradation due to supply chain issues [24] Investment Thesis - **Market Position**: Cisco is a market leader in networking solutions, facing challenges from lower-cost competitors but maintaining a comprehensive product offering [25] - **Revenue Visibility**: Strong product backlog and recurring revenue provide visibility even in a challenging macro environment [25] Valuation - **Target Price**: $75, based on a P/E ratio of 16x [21]