Dramatic announcement on Wall Street: The company leaving analysts in the dust
Cisco reports a dramatic surge in orders for artificial intelligence infrastructure and publishes an annual revenue forecast of up to $73.4 billion, well above the market's previous analyst expectations.
Communications equipment giant Cisco is providing significant signs that the global wave of investment in artificial intelligence continues to expand. The company published strong financial results for the fourth quarter of 2026, but above all, its optimistic forecast for fiscal year 2027 stood out, significantly exceeding Wall Street analyst expectations.
According to a Reuters report, Cisco expects its revenue in fiscal year 2027 to total between $72.2 billion and $73.4 billion. This is a forecast significantly higher than the average analyst estimate, which stood at $68.69 billion. The forecast reflects the company's belief that demand for communications equipment adapted to artificial intelligence workloads will continue to be a key growth engine.
In the fourth quarter, which ended in July 2026, Cisco recorded revenue of approximately $17.25 to $17.3 billion, an increase of 18% compared to the same period last year. Here, too, the company managed to beat market forecasts, which stood at approximately $16.82 billion. Earnings per share totaled $1.22, above analyst expectations.
One of the key factors behind the results is the growing demand for AI infrastructure from large cloud companies. Cisco reported that during the fourth quarter, it received orders totaling $4 billion in the field of artificial intelligence infrastructure from large cloud companies. During the entire year of 2026, the volume of orders in this field reached $9.3 billion, 4.5 times more than the previous year.
About 60% of these orders were for systems based on Cisco's Silicon One chip, while the rest were for optics products. This demand comes against the backdrop of the need for technology companies to rapidly expand their computing and communications infrastructure to cope with the increasing amounts of data generated by the use of generative artificial intelligence models.
Growth is not limited to giant companies. Cisco reported that orders from business and enterprise customers rose by 21%. In addition, during the year, the company received orders of more than $1 billion for AI infrastructure from smaller companies, government projects, and private organizations that are beginning to implement artificial intelligence systems.
The information security sector also continues to contribute to growth. Cisco's revenue in this area rose by 14%, partly against the backdrop of the acquisition of Splunk, which was intended to strengthen the company's cyber and data operations.
Alongside growth, Cisco continues to return capital to investors. During 2026, the company returned $12.7 billion to shareholders through dividend distributions and share buybacks.
The results and the new forecast highlight the role Cisco seeks to play in the artificial intelligence revolution. While companies like Nvidia provide the computing power, Cisco provides the communications infrastructure that allows the transfer of massive amounts of data between computing systems and data centers. Following the optimistic report, the company's stock recorded an increase in after-hours trading.
