Cisco Systems IncQ4 earnings miss on margin concerns, with gross margin decline and guidance for continued headwinds.

Cisco Systems shares dropped 10% after reporting fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Aug. 12, as investor concerns about margin pressure and forward growth quality outweighed strong top-line results. Revenues increased 18% year over year to $17.3 billion, product orders jumped 35%, and non-GAAP earnings rose 23% to $1.22 per share, but non-GAAP gross margin fell 210 basis points to 66.3% and product gross margin declined 270 basis points to 64.8% due to a higher hardware mix and rising memory costs. Cisco expects first-quarter fiscal 2027 gross margin in the 65-66% range and acknowledged that rapid growth of hardware-heavy AI and networking businesses will likely remain a gross-margin headwind through fiscal 2027, while annual recurring revenues grew only 3% and services revenue was essentially flat. Hyperscaler AI infrastructure orders reached $9.3 billion in fiscal 2026, roughly 4.5 times fiscal 2025, and Cisco expects hyperscaler AI revenue to rise from about $4 billion in fiscal 2026 to $7.5 billion in fiscal 2027, with a more than $100 billion networking refresh opportunity ahead. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2027 earnings is $4.89 per share, up 2.3% over the past 30 days, and Cisco currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Cisco Systems IncQ4 earnings miss on margin concerns, with gross margin decline and guidance for continued headwinds.
Arista Networks
Broadcom Inc
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co