After Hours Most Active for Sep 27, 2024 : VALE, GGB, CIG, INTC, NVDA, BBD, GEHC, SID, AAPL, CSCO, BAC, INFN
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Sep 27 2024
0mins
Should l Buy CSCO?
Source: NASDAQ.COM
After Hours Market Activity: The NASDAQ 100 After Hours Indicator is down to 19,990.22 with a total volume of 118,756,188 shares traded. Key active stocks include VALE S.A. and NVIDIA Corporation, both maintaining "buy" recommendations despite slight declines in their prices.
Stock Recommendations: Several companies such as Gerdau S.A., Intel Corporation, and Apple Inc. are reported to have mean recommendations in the "buy range," indicating positive investor sentiment, while some stocks are trading close to their target prices.
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Analyst Views on CSCO
Wall Street analysts forecast CSCO stock price to rise
13 Analyst Rating
10 Buy
3 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 77.040
Low
76.00
Averages
91.30
High
100.00
Current: 77.040
Low
76.00
Averages
91.30
High
100.00
About CSCO
Cisco Systems, Inc. designs and sells a range of technologies that power the Internet. The Company is integrating its product portfolios across networking, security, collaboration, applications and cloud. The Company's segments include the Americas; Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific, Japan, and China (APJC). Its Networking product category represents its core networking technologies of switching, routing, wireless, fifth generation (5G), silicon, optics solutions and compute products. Its Security product category consists of its cloud and application security, industrial security, network security, and user and device security offerings. Its Collaboration product category consists of its meetings, collaboration devices, calling, contact center and platform as a service (CPaaS) offering. Its Observability product category consists of its full stack observability offerings.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
- Stock Movement: Cisco Systems (CSCO) closed at $77.04, down 3.6% from the previous trading session, underperforming the S&P 500's 0.4% decline, indicating market caution regarding its short-term performance.
- Earnings Expectations: Analysts anticipate Cisco will report an EPS of $1.03 in its upcoming earnings release, reflecting a 7.29% year-over-year increase, while projected net sales of $15.52 billion represent a 9.69% growth, highlighting the company's revenue growth potential.
- Valuation Metrics: Cisco's forward P/E ratio stands at 19.3, indicating a premium over the industry average of 17.36, suggesting market confidence in its future growth, although its PEG ratio of 2.47 exceeds the industry average of 1.62, reflecting cautious investor sentiment regarding growth expectations.
- Industry Ranking: The Computer Networking industry, where Cisco operates, holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 99, placing it in the top 41% of all industries, suggesting strong overall performance that may support Cisco's future growth.
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- AI Investment Boost: Truist analyst Matthew Niknam highlights that U.S. hyperscaler capital expenditures are projected to reach approximately $700 billion by 2026, marking a nearly 60% year-over-year increase, which will directly drive demand for networking hardware from Cisco, Arista, and Motorola.
- Increased Spending on Traditional Servers: The shift from AI training to inference has led to increased spending in traditional servers and campus networking, enhancing market opportunities for these companies and potentially fostering long-term growth.
- Selective Investment Strategy: While maintaining a positive outlook on these stocks, Truist advises a more cautious investment approach due to some stocks nearing decade-high valuations and inflationary pressures that could impact future demand and volumes.
- Buy Ratings and Price Targets: Truist has assigned Buy ratings to Cisco, Arista, and Motorola, with price targets set at $94, $161, and $540 respectively, reflecting strong confidence in their growth prospects.
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- Visa and Mastercard Ratings: Loop initiates coverage on Visa and Mastercard with a buy rating, anticipating significant net revenue growth driven by market share gains and upside from foreign exchange volatility, enhancing their competitive edge in the payment processing sector.
- Arista and Cisco Buy Ratings: Truist initiates buy ratings for Arista Networks and Cisco, citing their high-quality business scale and thematic attractiveness, particularly in the data center growth space, which presents underappreciated opportunities.
- 10X Genomics Upgrade: William Blair upgrades 10X Genomics from market perform to outperform, highlighting its pivotal role in AI drug discovery and improved profitability, which is expected to drive future growth following five consecutive topline beats.
- MiniMed Platform Outlook: Morgan Stanley initiates MiniMed at overweight with a $19 price target, projecting that its differentiated diabetes management platform will drive growth and margin expansion, particularly given the significant underpenetration in the U.S. market.
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- Stock Decline: Nvidia's stock has fallen nearly 20% from its 52-week high, despite a 50% increase over the past year, indicating that investors should carefully assess the timing for potential purchases given its current valuation.
- Valuation Analysis: With a current P/E ratio of 34x, down from a five-year average of 64x, and a P/B ratio of 26x compared to an average of 30x, Nvidia appears relatively cheap, yet still expensive compared to the average tech stock.
- Energy Cost Impact: Rising oil and natural gas prices due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East could increase electricity costs, thereby raising expenses for AI infrastructure development and operations, which may affect overall economic conditions and consumer spending.
- Market Bubble Risk: As the AI bubble continues to deflate, Nvidia's stock may experience further declines, reminiscent of historical market corrections like the dot-com bubble, prompting investors to remain cautious for potentially better buying opportunities.
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- Market Correction: Major indices, including the Dow Jones and Nasdaq, fell over 10% due to escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, indicating a significant deterioration in investor sentiment.
- Surge in Oil Prices: The geopolitical instability has led to rising oil prices, exacerbating inflation fears and prompting investors to anticipate a prolonged high-interest rate environment, which negatively impacted overall market performance.
- Stock Performance: HNI, an office furniture company, saw a 3.8% drop, while electronic components manufacturer Rogers fell 3.2%, and enterprise networking firm Cisco declined by 4.1%, reflecting a risk-off sentiment among investors.
- Airlines Benefit: Positive market sentiment linked to falling oil prices boosted shares of American Airlines and United Airlines by 4.9% and 4.5%, respectively, indicating that lower fuel costs will significantly enhance profit margins in these sectors.
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- Stock Performance Analysis: Nvidia's stock has risen 50% over the past year but has fallen nearly 20% from its 52-week high, indicating market concerns about its future, particularly amid intensifying competition in the AI sector.
- Valuation Comparison: Although Nvidia's current P/E ratio of 34x is lower than its five-year average of 64x, it still appears relatively expensive compared to the average tech stock's P/E of 34x and the S&P 500's 28x, which may deter value investors.
- Energy Price Impact: Rising oil and gas prices due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East could increase electricity costs, thereby raising the overall expenses associated with AI usage, posing challenges for AI infrastructure development that relies heavily on power.
- Cautious Market Outlook: Given the risks of economic slowdown and the potential bursting of the AI bubble, investors may need to keep Nvidia on their watchlist rather than rushing to buy, to avoid losses amid market volatility.
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