Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO)

Cisco closed its fiscal year on 25 July 2026 with revenue of $63.3 billion, up 12 percent, and net income of $13.3 billion, up 30 percent 1. The fourth quarter alone brought record revenue of $17.3 billion, up 18 percent 1.

The cause is artificial intelligence: the largest cloud companies, which Cisco calls hyperscalers, ordered $9.3 billion of its AI networking gear during fiscal 2026 1. Those customers made up about 6 percent of revenue, against less than 2 percent a year earlier, and Networking sales rose 22 percent 2.

The growth has a cost: memory chips grew dearer, and inventories, the parts and products waiting to ship, rose to $5.7 billion from $3.2 billion 2. In May Cisco announced a restructuring costing up to $1 billion, and Reuters reported it would cut nearly 4,000 jobs to move money toward silicon, optics, security and AI 34.

The open question is whether the demand lasts: Cisco guided fiscal 2027 revenue of $72.2 billion to $73.4 billion and expects about $7.5 billion of AI revenue from hyperscalers 1. Its own annual report warns that these few buyers can delay or cancel orders, and that some can design their own networking gear 2.

Cisco was incorporated in California in 1984, moved its legal home to Delaware in 2021 and is based in San Jose 2. In fiscal 2018 revenue grew 3 percent, and Cisco began shifting its switches, starting with the Catalyst 9000 series, toward software subscriptions 16. Net income fell 99 percent that year, because the US tax overhaul known as the Tax Act brought a one-time charge of $10.4 billion 16.

Revenue reached $51.9 billion in fiscal 2019, then fell 5 percent to $49.3 billion in fiscal 2020 as the pandemic hit spending by businesses and by phone and cable companies 1415. Security was the bright spot, with product sales up 12 percent that year 15.

Fiscal 2021 revenue rose 1 percent to $49.8 billion, and Cisco estimated that most of the rise came from an extra week in that year's calendar 14. On 1 March 2021 Cisco bought Acacia Communications, a maker of high-speed optical parts that carry data over fiber 14.

Fiscal 2022 revenue grew 3 percent to $51.6 billion, while a shortage of parts held back shipments and raised costs 13. Cisco also stopped business in Russia and Belarus in March 2022; with Ukraine, those countries had brought about 1 percent of revenue 13. Product gross margin, revenue minus the cost of making the gear, fell 2.1 points on those supply costs 13.

As parts came back in fiscal 2023, Cisco shipped more of the orders that had waited, and revenue jumped 11 percent to $57.0 billion 12. Demand for new products fell at the same time, because customers were still installing the equipment that had just arrived 12.

That pause pulled fiscal 2024 revenue down 6 percent to $53.8 billion 11. On 18 March 2024 Cisco completed the purchase of Splunk, a security and data-monitoring software company, for about $27 billion 11. Splunk added about $1.4 billion of revenue in its first months, and demand picked up in the fourth quarter as customers finished installing earlier shipments 11.

Splunk made fiscal 2025 a year of growth: revenue rose 5 percent to $56.7 billion, and Security product sales rose 59 percent 10. Networking slipped 3 percent, though AI gear for the largest cloud companies began to add sales 10.

Fiscal 2026 brought the turn back to networking: revenue rose 12 percent to $63.3 billion, led by Networking, up 22 percent on Silicon One systems and optics for AI 2. Software revenue across all lines reached $23.2 billion, up 4 percent 2. Product gross margin slipped to 63.2 percent, weighed down by the larger share of networking hardware and by dearer memory 2.

Networking

Networking, the switches, routers, wireless gear and servers that move data, is Cisco's largest line: $34.7 billion in fiscal 2026, or 54.7 percent of revenue (computed) 1. Its sales rose 22 percent for the year and 28 percent in the fourth quarter 1.

Most of these systems run on Cisco Silicon One, the company's own family of networking chips 2. The newest chip, the G300 unveiled on 10 February 2026, moves 102.4 terabits a second, and Cisco said it and the systems built on it ship this year 7.

IDC counts Cisco as the largest seller of Ethernet switches, with $5.4 billion of sales in the second quarter of 2026 and a 28.7 percent share 6. In data-center switches alone Nvidia leads with 20.4 percent, ahead of Arista at 18.7 percent and Cisco at 18.2 percent 6. Cisco also had 34.7 percent of router sales, IDC reports 6.

Security

Security, the firewalls, secure remote access and identity tools that keep intruders out, brought $8.2 billion, 13 percent of revenue (computed), up 2 percent 1. Growth came from secure access over the internet, called SASE, and from network security, and sales rose 14 percent in the fourth quarter 21.

Newer products include Hypershield, security built into the network itself, and AI Defense, which uses machine learning to spot and stop attacks as they happen 2. In the fourth quarter Cisco bought Astrix, which secures the logins that software agents use rather than people 1.

Collaboration

Collaboration, the Webex meetings and calling software, meeting-room devices and contact-center tools, brought $4.3 billion, up 4 percent 1. At WebexOne on 7 October 2026 Cisco added AI agents that join Webex meetings, calls and spaces to carry out tasks of several steps, Channel Insider reported 8. The same report said the RoomOS 27 software for room devices is expected in November 8.

Observability

Observability, software that shows companies why an app or a network slows down, is the smallest line at $1.1 billion, up 4 percent 12. Network assurance from ThousandEyes grew while the Splunk and AppDynamics monitoring suite shrank 2. In the fourth quarter Cisco also bought Galileo, an observability company 1.

Services

Services, the technical support and consulting sold alongside the gear, brought $15.0 billion, 23.7 percent of revenue, flat on the year 2. Support revenue fell while consulting rose, and services keep a higher gross margin, revenue minus the cost of delivering it: 68.8 percent, against 63.2 percent for products 2.

Plants and suppliers

Cisco makes nothing itself: contract manufacturers assemble and test its products, and it has no significant long-term contracts with them 2. It owns its San Jose headquarters and sites near Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and Richardson, Texas, and keeps regional headquarters in Amsterdam and Singapore 2. To meet hyperscaler demand it has signed larger purchase commitments and prepaid suppliers for Silicon One parts and memory, which its annual report says raises its exposure if orders fall 2.

The people

Chuck Robbins, who joined in 1997, has been chief executive since July 2015 and chair since December 2017 2. Mark Patterson became finance chief in July 2025, and Jeetendra Patel has been president and chief product officer since May 2025 2. On 9 October 2026 the board added Girish Rishi, chief executive of Cognite 9.

Cisco had about 82,400 employees on 25 July 2026, about 25,400 of them in sales and marketing 2. Reuters reported a workforce of about 86,200 a year earlier 4.

Rivals

The annual report names Arista Networks, Broadcom, Nvidia, Huawei, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, Zscaler, CrowdStrike, Datadog, Microsoft and Zoom among its rivals, each in some of its markets 2. It also notes price competition from Asian rivals, especially Chinese ones, and that its biggest customers can design their own gear 2. IDC reports that Arista's switch sales grew 37.6 percent in the second quarter of 2026, and Nvidia's grew 181.1 percent 6.

Problems

In Brazil, tax authorities claim $153 million in import taxes, $969 million in interest and $315 million in penalties for 2004 to 2007, claims Cisco calls without merit 2. Patent suits by Centripetal Networks and Ramot at Tel Aviv University go on in appeals and abroad, after rulings in Cisco's favor 2.

On 23 June 2026 the Supreme Court ended a suit by Falun Gong members who said Cisco's technology was used to persecute them in China, AP reported 5. Higher memory costs and trade policy remain pressures the annual report names 2.

The umbrella, in words

The subsidiaries exhibit of the annual report lists, among many others, Splunk LLC, Meraki LLC, ThousandEyes LLC, Duo Security LLC, Isovalent LLC, Cisco WebEx LLC and Acacia Communications 17. Cisco Systems Capital Corporation is part of Cisco Capital, the financing arm that lends and leases to customers buying Cisco technology 172.

Cisco owns shares of CoreWeave, an AI cloud provider, and of Space Exploration Technologies, according to its newest quarterly holdings report to the SEC 20. Its annual report says it also invests in privately held companies whose technology complements its own 2.

No single owner controls Cisco: it has one class of common stock, listed on Nasdaq, and its largest reported holders are fund managers 21819. Vanguard Capital Management reported 7.18 percent in a Schedule 13G for March 2026, and State Street reported 5 percent in one for June 2026 1819.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Cisco guided revenue of $18.0 billion to $18.2 billion and an adjusted gross margin of 65 to 66 percent 1. For the full year it guided revenue of $72.2 billion to $73.4 billion 1.

The company expects about $7.5 billion of AI infrastructure revenue from hyperscalers in fiscal 2027, after about $4 billion in fiscal 2026 1. In May the finance chief, Mark Patterson, had called at least $6 billion reasonable, Reuters reported 4.

The annual report says the company expects hyperscaler demand to remain a significant driver of its results in fiscal 2027 2. It also expects to keep signing purchase commitments to secure supply and pricing for memory and other parts 2.

The restructuring announced in May is expected to cost up to $1 billion, and $511 million of it was booked in fiscal 2026 2. The company expects the plan to be substantially complete by the end of fiscal 2027 2.

Cisco said in February that the Silicon One G300 and the systems built on it ship this year 7. Channel Insider reported that RoomOS 27, the new software for Cisco's meeting-room devices, is expected in November 8.

Cisco declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 a share, paid on 21 October 2026, and had $8.1 billion left under its share repurchase program, which has no end date 1.

In court, a German appeal hearing on the validity of a Centripetal patent is set for 10 November 2026 2. In Brazil, the company does not expect a final judicial decision on the tax claims for several years 2. Ramot's appeal of a ruling that Cisco does not infringe its optical patents is still before the Federal Circuit 2.

The notice of Rishi's appointment says his first term runs to Cisco's 2026 annual meeting of stockholders 9.

Past

Cisco's revenue grew from $48 billion in fiscal 2017 to $63 billion in fiscal 2026, up 3.1% a year, and rose in 7 of 9 years. Net income stayed positive in all 10 of those years. Over the three fiscal years to 2026-07-25, the diluted share count shrank about 1.0% a year, and dividends and buybacks returned about 95% of operating cash flow over those three years. Officers and directors filed 95 sales and 0 purchases of their own stock on the open market in the year to 2026-10-13. Cisco's filings since 2017 show no warning events: no bankruptcy notice, no debt default notice, no exchange listing notice, no restatement warning, no auditor change, no material cybersecurity incident and no late-report notice. 1

Present

For the fiscal year ended 2026-07-25, Cisco reported revenue of $63 billion and a profit of $13 billion. The company earned about 26 cents of profit for every dollar of shareholders' money, and its products earned about 32 cents per dollar of everything it owns. It owed about 61 cents per dollar of assets, and its share count shrank 0.3% over the year. Cisco's revenue of $63 billion in fiscal 2026 ranks in the top 3% by size among 15 graded names in its industry family; a net margin of 21% ranks in the top 17%; revenue growth of 3.6% a year over the last three filed years ranks in the top 43%. 21

The chief executive on the record is Robbins, Charles (Chair and CEO), filing under that title since 2015-09-11, for 11.1 years. The 19 officers and directors filing in the last fifteen months have been on the record a median of 3.2 years. Fifteen officer or director changes were reported on Form 8-K since 2023-10-21, against the 19 people in charge now. 1

Future

A quarterly report (Form 10-Q) for the quarter ending 2026-10-31 is due by 2026-12-10 under the SEC's rules. An annual report (Form 10-K) for the fiscal year ending 2027-07-31 is due by 2027-09-29 under the SEC's rules. 3

Revenue grew 3.6% a year over the last three filed years against 3.1% over all 10, speeding up; the newest year grew 11.8%; research spending grew 8.2% a year; capital spending grew 18.5% a year. Cash from operations less capital spending is 20.2% of revenue, a gross margin of 64.5%, and research spending of 15.1% of revenue. 1

How the company operates

Cisco operates as a product business. In fiscal 2026, the company reported revenue by product and service lines: Networking at 55%, Service at 24%, Security at 13%, Collaboration at 7%, and Observability at 2%. Cisco reported Networking at $35 billion and Service at $15 billion, with 4 of 5 lines growing against the year before. In fiscal 2025, the Americas accounted for $33.66 billion of revenue, Asia Pacific Japan and China for $8.17 billion, and Europe Middle East and Africa for $14.82 billion. 214

New moves

On 2026-10-09, Cisco filed Form 8-K reporting an officer or director change. 3