Piper Sandler cuts Cisco price target to $125 on growth peak fears
Cisco stock shed nearly 5% on Tuesday after Piper Sandler analyst James Fish cut the firm's price target on the networking equipment company to $125 from $132, while holding a Neutral rating in place.
Fish and his team pointed to reduced price-to-earnings multiple assumptions, with the analysts expressing concern that the industry's growth trajectory may be approaching its ceiling, according to CNBC. Cisco stock closed Tuesday at $106.44.
On Wall Street, Cisco holds a consensus Buy rating, and analysts' average price target stands at $133.86, according to Benzinga . Also on the analyst front, Deutsche Bank started coverage with a Buy rating and a $135 price target on September 1, while HSBC moved to a Hold rating with a $120 target on August 14, Benzinga reported.
Shares reached an all-time peak in June and have gained 57% over the past year, buoyed by revenue growth tied to surging artificial intelligence investment.
The Piper Sandler move comes roughly a month after Cisco reported fourth-quarter revenue of $17.25 billion, beating analyst expectations and posting record annual results , though Cisco stock fell in after-hours trading following that announcement. For the full fiscal year 2026, revenue reached $63.3 billion, up 12%, with GAAP net income of $13.3 billion.
Cisco's guidance for fiscal year 2027 projected revenue of $72.2 billion to $73.4 billion, implying nearly 15% growth. Skeptical analysts countered that underlying sales expansion would retreat to single-digit territory. Piper Sandler described the company's own outlook as "conservative" relative to what broader market demand would support, according to CNBC.
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins addressed the cautious tone on guidance last month. "We're starting a new fiscal year. We're operating in incredible markets," Robbins told CNBC's Jim Cramer. "But it's also a time that we're going to start the year being a little bit prudent."
Hyperscalers, the major cloud and internet platforms driving infrastructure buildouts, accounted for roughly $4 billion of Cisco's revenue in fiscal 2026, and the company anticipates that contribution will nearly double to $7.5 billion in fiscal 2027.
