Nokia's Evolution and Market Position: Nokia has transitioned from a pulp mill to a key player in mobile phone manufacturing and telecom infrastructure, positioning itself to benefit from the AI-driven data center boom, unlike its rival Ericsson.
Financial Outlook and Revenue Growth: Despite a challenging telecom infrastructure market, Nokia's acquisition of Infinera and focus on hyperscalers are expected to drive revenue growth, with projections indicating an increase from 19.5 billion euros in 2024 to 21.5 billion euros by 2028.
Shift in Revenue Sources: Nokia's network infrastructure division, which includes optical networks and AI-related products, is anticipated to become the largest revenue contributor for the company this year, surpassing its mobile networks business for the first time since 2017.
Investor Sentiment and Valuation: Following a significant rise in share price, Nokia's valuation has increased, trading at nearly 17 times projected earnings, which is closer to Cisco's valuation, while Ericsson lags behind at 13 times, reflecting investor confidence in Nokia's AI initiatives.
Wall Street analysts forecast CSCO stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for CSCO is 89.36 USD with a low forecast of 76.00 USD and a high forecast of 100.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
14 Analyst Rating
Wall Street analysts forecast CSCO stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for CSCO is 89.36 USD with a low forecast of 76.00 USD and a high forecast of 100.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
10 Buy
4 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 74.330
Low
76.00
Averages
89.36
High
100.00
Current: 74.330
Low
76.00
Averages
89.36
High
100.00
Morgan Stanley
Overweight
maintain
$82 -> $91
2025-12-17
Reason
Morgan Stanley
Price Target
$82 -> $91
AI Analysis
2025-12-17
maintain
Overweight
Reason
Morgan Stanley raised the firm's price target on Cisco to $91 from $82 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The AI trade broadened out from semi names in 2025, helping infrastructure names, particularly within optical, notes the analyst, who believes that trade can continue, particularly in optical, through the first half of 2026. However, investors will "need to get more selective for full year returns given multiples," the analyst added in a year-ahead note on the group.
KeyBanc
Brandon Nispel
Overweight
maintain
$77 -> $87
2025-11-13
Reason
KeyBanc
Brandon Nispel
Price Target
$77 -> $87
2025-11-13
maintain
Overweight
Reason
KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel raised the firm's price target on Cisco to $87 from $77 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm cites higher estimates. Weakness in Security is far outweighed by strength in Networking leading to revenue coming +0.8% above consensus with OI margins also ahead. KeyBanc acknowledges part of its thesis was predicated on Security growth, so a leg to the stool is certainly damaged, but Networking cycle is more than offsetting this impact.
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JPMorgan
NULL -> Overweight
upgrade
$80 -> $90
2025-11-13
Reason
JPMorgan
Price Target
$80 -> $90
2025-11-13
upgrade
NULL -> Overweight
Reason
JPMorgan raised the firm's price target on Cisco to $90 from $80 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The company reported a beat in fiscal Q1 on artificial intelligence momentum and Campus refresh upsides, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says the quarter bolsters the case for a further stock re-rating.
Morgan Stanley
Overweight
maintain
$77 -> $82
2025-11-13
Reason
Morgan Stanley
Price Target
$77 -> $82
2025-11-13
maintain
Overweight
Reason
Morgan Stanley raised the firm's price target on Cisco to $82 from $77 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. Fiscal Q1 results featured slight upside, but "the real surprise" was on AI orders, with the company now expecting $3B of AI revenue in FY26, the analyst tells investors. AI is becoming more material with the sovereign opportunity still on the come, notes the analyst, calling this "a setup which could support further rerating."
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.
