Cisco (CSCO)
Forward P/E 21.52x is 0.63x the peer median of 34.25x, the cheapest forward multiple in its peer set, while latest-quarter revenue grew +17.6% year over year (PRIMARY/EDGAR) — growth is delivered, not collapsing. Trailing P/E 33.25x and PEG 2.15 temper the case: the peer median is lifted by faster-growing networking names, and Cisco is not cheap on growth-adjusted terms. Delivered demand check: the cluster median grew +27.3% year over year — demand rising, which supports the earnings the forward multiple rests on.
What would change this label: Moves toward FAIRLY PRICED if the forward P/E re-rates above about 30.8x (0.90x the peer median) without a matching rise in delivered growth, or if revenue growth falls below +5% year over year for two consecutive quarters. The UNDERVALUED case firms up if revenue growth holds at +15% or better while the forward P/E stays below about 24x.
Cisco's shares cost about 22 times next year's expected profit, while other networking companies cost about 34 times — even though Cisco just grew sales by nearly 18%. It is the slow, steady name in a fast group, and the price already assumes that slowness.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window Cisco returned +165.00% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for Cisco: -38.6% (2021-12-29 to 2022-10-12). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E 21.52x is 0.63x the peer median of 34.25x, the cheapest forward multiple in its peer set, while latest-quarter revenue grew +17.6% year over year (PRIMARY/EDGAR) — growth is delivered, not collapsing. Trailing P/E 33.25x and PEG 2.15 temper the case: the peer median is lifted by faster-growing networking names, and Cisco is not cheap on growth-adjusted terms. Delivered demand check: the cluster median grew +27.3% year over year — demand rising, which supports the earnings the forward multiple rests on. The company’s forward P/E is 21.5× against a peer median of 34.2×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Communications equipment group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 27.3% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising. Latest-quarter sales growth was +17.6% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cisco (CSCO) | $110.73 | 21.5× | 33.2× |
| ANET | $188.16 | 40.3× | 59.5× |
| MSI | $478.38 | 26.4× | 37.7× |
| LITE | $878.00 | 39.7× | — |
| CIEN | $356.35 | 34.2× | 79.6× |
| FFIV | $398.49 | 21.9× | 31.8× |
| Peer median | 34.2× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
Gross margin = gross profit divided by sales, from SEC filings.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Jul 2026 2026-07-25 | $17.3B | 64.1% | $3.9B | — | $5.0B |
| Q/E Apr 2026 2026-04-25 | $15.8B | 63.6% | $3.4B | 0.85 | $3.3B |
| Q/E Jan 2026 2026-01-24 | $15.3B | 65.0% | $3.2B | 0.80 | $1.5B |
| Q/E Oct 2025 2025-10-25 | $14.9B | 65.5% | $2.9B | 0.72 | $2.9B |
| Q/E Jul 2025 2025-07-26 | $14.7B | 63.2% | $2.5B | — | $4.0B |
| Q/E Apr 2025 2025-04-26 | $14.1B | 65.6% | $2.5B | 0.62 | $3.8B |
| Q/E Jan 2025 2025-01-25 | $14.0B | 65.1% | $2.4B | 0.61 | $2.0B |
| Q/E Oct 2024 2024-10-26 | $13.8B | 65.9% | $2.7B | 0.68 | $3.4B |
| Q/E Jul 2024 2024-07-27 | $13.6B | 64.4% | $2.2B | — | $3.5B |
| Q/E Apr 2024 2024-04-27 | $12.7B | 65.1% | $1.9B | 0.46 | $3.8B |
| Q/E Jan 2024 2024-01-27 | $12.8B | 64.2% | $2.6B | 0.65 | $638M |
| Q/E Oct 2023 2023-10-28 | $14.7B | 65.2% | $3.6B | 0.89 | $2.2B |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | CISCO SYSTEMS, INC. |
| Chief executive | Chuck Robbins (source: https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/executives/robbins-chuck.html) |
| Sector | Technology — Communications Equipment — sells networking hardware, software and security for enterprises and data centres |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $110.73 |
| Market value (market cap) | $439.1B — share price times shares outstanding of 3,942,586,873 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $63.3B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $13.3B |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | $12.8B |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Jul 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | +165.00% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -38.6% (2021-12-29 to 2022-10-12) |
What we could not verify
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000858877.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000858877.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/CSCO/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.