Cisco Systems Inc. Is Up 13.5% For The Year-To-Date

Recent Performance belies year-to-date Gains for Cisco Systems Inc.

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Cisco Systems Inc., (Nasdaq: CSCO) is currently trading at $30.84 per share, down 1.50% or $0.47. The company has a market capitalisation of $154.67 billion and a price/earnings ratio of 14.62. The dividend & yield for the stock is $1.04, with a 3.37% yield. Analysts have a 1-year target estimate price of $33.04 on the stock, which is above its 52-week high of $31.95. The 1-year low is $22.46. If we turn our attention to the actual earnings versus the estimates over time, Cisco Systems Inc., has consistently outperformed expectations over the past 4 fiscal quarters.

• For Q3 2016, actual earnings were reported at $0.63 and estimated earnings at $0.60
• For Q2 2016, actual earnings were reported at $0.57 and estimated earnings at $0.55
• For Q1 2016, actual earnings were reported at $0.57 and estimated earnings at $0.54
• For Q4 2015, actual earnings were reported at $0.59 and estimated earnings at $0.56

In all instances, there were positive earnings surprises for Cisco Systems Inc. If we turn our attention to the revenues versus earnings, 2016 revenues of $49.25 billion were reported with earnings of $10.74 billion. For 2015, revenues of $49.16 billion were reported with earnings of $8.98 billion and for 2014, revenues of $47.14 billion were reported with earnings of $7.85 billion.

Recommendation Ratings and Upgrade/Downgrade History

Overall, the recommendation trends for the stock have been bullish. Of the 39 analysts polled in June 2016, 22 rated the stock as either a strong buy or a buy with 16 regarding it as a hold. In July 2016, 22 rated as either a buy or a strong buy with 14 regarding it as a hold and in August 2016, 21 analysts regarded it as either a buy or a strong buy with 13 rating it as a hold. On a rating scale of 1.0 (strong buy) to 5.0 (sell), Cisco Systems Inc. is at 2.2.

The upgrades and downgrades history of the stock for the year-to-date have largely been bullish, with 3 upgrades and 2 downgrades. Most recently, Goldman downgraded the stock on 15 June 2016 from a buy to a neutral. On 6 April 2016, JPMorgan upgraded the stock from an underweight rating to a neutral rating, and on 5 April 2016, Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock from a buy to a neutral rating. Earlier on in the year, both Jeffries and Macquarie upgraded the stock.

What is the News from Cisco Systems Inc.?

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Several days ago, it was reported that Cisco Systems Inc. is a technology stock with a high dividend return. The dividend yield of 3.4% is certainly worthy of consideration, but investors are advised to consider other aspects of the company when determining whether to invest or not. Cisco has been moving away from sales of its hardware take and is transitioning towards cloud-based services. The company has been working hard to cut costs across the board, and the reduction of 7% of the workforce is a case in point. Cisco Systems Inc. is working towards a subscription model, and developing additional software. These are definitely the sectors to watch with this tech company.