Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) Posts Record Q4 Revenue of $17.3B, Raises FY2027 Guidance to $72.2B-$73.4B

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) closed fiscal year 2026 with record quarterly revenue of $17.3 billion, up 17.6% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $1.22 that beat the $1.19 consensus estimate. GAAP EPS came in at $0.97, a 51.6% increase from $0.64 in Q4 fiscal 2025. Shares rose 2.86% on Wednesday, August 12, while the S&P 500 gained 0.25%.

Q4 Fiscal 2026 Results

• Revenue: $17.3 billion, up 17.6% year over year, with product revenue up 24% and services revenue flat
• Adjusted EPS: $1.22, up 23.2% from $0.99 in Q4 fiscal 2025, beating the $1.19 consensus by approximately 2.5%
• GAAP net income: $3.9 billion, up 51.3% year over year
• GAAP operating income: $4.3 billion, up 38.1% year over year, with GAAP operating margin of 24.7%; non-GAAP operating income of $6.2 billion, up 23.0%, with non-GAAP operating margin of 35.9%
• Operating cash flow: $5.4 billion for the quarter, up 27% year over year; free cash flow of $5.0 billion after capital expenditures of $390 million
• Capital returns: $3.2 billion returned to shareholders through buybacks and dividends in Q4

What Drove the Results

Adjusted EPS of $1.22 beat the $1.19 consensus by $0.03, while revenue of $17.3 billion was up 17.6% year over year. Networking revenue led product growth at $9.8 billion, up 28% year over year, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in that segment. Security revenue grew 14% to $2.2 billion, and Collaboration rose 12% to $1.2 billion.

AI infrastructure was a material contributor: Cisco took $4 billion in AI-related orders during Q4 alone, bringing the full fiscal year 2026 total to $9.3 billion. Total product orders rose 35% year over year in the quarter, or 25% excluding hyperscalers, with double-digit order growth across every geography and customer market. Remaining Performance Obligations stood at $46.7 billion, up 7% year over year, with product RPO up 9%.

Capital expenditures of $390 million in Q4 were up 79.7% from $217 million in the prior-year quarter, reflecting accelerated infrastructure investment. For full fiscal year 2026, revenue reached $63.3 billion, up 12%, with full-year GAAP EPS of $3.33, up 31%, and adjusted EPS of $4.33, up 14%.

In Q4, Cisco also closed two acquisitions: Galileo Technologies, an observability company, and Astrix Securities, a Non-Human Identity security firm. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, payable October 21, 2026.

Wall Street View

Ahead of earnings, analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush described Cisco and CoreWeave as the two AI stock earnings reports to watch this week, framing the results as key indicators for the broader AI infrastructure investment cycle. Analyst consensus ahead of the print stood at predominantly Buy-rated, reflecting broad confidence in Cisco's networking and security positioning.

Investor Takeaway

Cisco's forward guidance provides the clearest signal of the quarter's significance: the company is projecting fiscal year 2027 revenue of $72.2 billion to $73.4 billion, and expects AI infrastructure revenue to reach approximately $7.5 billion in fiscal 2027, nearly doubling the approximately $4 billion delivered in fiscal 2026. For Q1 fiscal 2027, Cisco guided for revenue of $18.0 billion to $18.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.32 to $1.34, implying continued double-digit revenue growth. CFO Mark Patterson noted that fiscal 2026 represented Cisco's highest productivity metrics by revenue, non-GAAP operating margin, and earnings per employee in 30 years, a benchmark that sets a demanding baseline for the year ahead.