Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) saw its shares rise by 6.4% in premarket trading on Thursday after the company raised its annual revenue forecast, driven by strong demand for its cloud networking equipment. The company also addressed concerns about the potential impact of the latest U.S. tariffs. Demand for Cisco’s Ethernet switches and routers, which are used in data centers, has surged as businesses increase their investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
“Cisco’s solid forecast is a positive sign that the company has stabilized following several quarters of inventory digestion and supply-chain snags,” said Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital. The company also said its quarterly dividend would be increased by 7% to $0.26 per share and added $15 billion to its authorized fixed share buyback amount.
The company designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol-based networking products for the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. It offers a switching portfolio that includes campus as well as data center switching; enterprise routing that interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure and reliable connectivity; collaboration solutions comprising Webex suite, collaboration devices, contact centers, and communication platform as a service offering; and observability offering network assurance, monitoring, and analytics.
