Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) Eyes Q3 Print With Consensus at $1.03 EPS and $15.56B Revenue

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was trading at $99.85 on Wednesday, May 13 — up $0.56, or 0.56%, from its prior close of $99.29 — as investors positioned ahead of the company's third-quarter earnings release scheduled after the closing bell. The session price placed shares just below their 52-week high of $99.93, reflecting a significant recovery from the 52-week low of $60.84.

Q3 2026 Consensus at a Glance

• EPS consensus: $1.03 per share, compared to $0.96 reported in the year-ago period
• Revenue consensus: $15.56 billion, up from $14.15 billion in the prior-year quarter
• Market capitalisation: $394.1 billion as of the most recent data
• Trailing P/E: 35.9x | Forward P/E: 22.1x
• Trailing gross margin (TTM): 64.8% | Operating margin (TTM): 24.9%
• Net margin (TTM): 18.8%
• Revenue growth (YoY, TTM): 9.7% | EPS growth (YoY, TTM): 31.2%

What Drove the Setup

The year-over-year improvement baked into consensus estimates reflects Cisco's ongoing expansion beyond its legacy networking hardware business, with the company increasingly leaning into software, security, and AI-enabled infrastructure. The implied revenue increase from $14.15 billion to a consensus of $15.56 billion would represent roughly 10% year-over-year growth at the top line, broadly consistent with the 9.7% TTM revenue growth reported in trailing fundamentals.

The meaningful gap between the trailing P/E of 35.9x and the forward P/E of 22.1x suggests the market is pricing in a meaningful step-up in profitability, consistent with the 31.2% TTM EPS growth already reflected in trailing figures. Cisco is also among companies identified in the global video analytics market outlook for 2026–2031, a segment that intersects with its security and AI portfolio.

Wall Street View

Analyst sentiment on CSCO has remained stable and constructive. As of the May 1, 2026 consensus, 7 analysts rated the stock Strong Buy, 16 rated it Buy, and 9 rated it Hold, with zero Sell or Strong Sell ratings. The distribution was unchanged from the April 1, 2026 reading, indicating no meaningful shift in conviction heading into the print.

Investor Takeaway

With Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) trading within cents of its 52-week high of $99.93 and analyst consensus firmly skewed toward Buy, the setup heading into the Q3 report reflects broad confidence in the company's trajectory. The forward P/E of 22.1x implies the market expects a meaningful acceleration in per-share profitability, and the consensus revenue target of $15.56 billion would mark the strongest quarterly top line in at least the past year. Investors should note that TTM figures may not fully capture the most recent quarter's performance once official results are disclosed.