Cisco Systems, Inc.: EPS $1.40 vs $1.33 expected; revenue $18.5B vs $18.1B
Key Facts
Q1 FY2027 results
| Metric | Actual | Estimate | Surprise | Year ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS (USD) | 1.40 | 1.33 | +5.3% | 1.00 |
| Revenue (USD bn) | 18.50 | 18.12 | +2.1% | 14.88 |
Recent reports: actual vs estimate
| Reported | Period | EPS (USD) | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue (USD bn) | Estimate | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 12, 2026 | Q1 FY2027 | 1.40 | 1.330 | +5.3% | 18.50 | 18.12 | +2.1% |
| Aug 12, 2026 | Q4 FY2026 | 1.22 | 1.170 | +4.3% | 17.25 | 16.84 | +2.5% |
| May 13, 2026 | Q3 FY2026 | 1.06 | 1.030 | +2.9% | 15.84 | 15.56 | +1.8% |
| Feb 11, 2026 | Q2 FY2026 | 1.04 | 1.020 | +2.0% | 15.35 | 15.11 | +1.6% |
| Nov 12, 2025 | Q1 FY2026 | 1.00 | 0.982 | +1.8% | 14.88 | 14.78 | +0.7% |
| Aug 13, 2025 | Q4 FY2025 | 0.99 | 0.977 | +1.3% | 14.67 | 14.62 | +0.4% |
| May 14, 2025 | Q3 FY2025 | 0.96 | 0.917 | +4.7% | 14.15 | 14.05 | +0.7% |
| Feb 12, 2025 | Q2 FY2025 | 0.94 | 0.910 | +3.3% | 13.99 | 13.87 | +0.9% |
Source: Figures from the EL7 database. Estimates are the analyst consensus carried by our data vendor (FMP), not official figures.
Cisco Systems, Inc. results: EPS $1.40 vs $1.33 expected; revenue $18.5B vs $18.1B. The results cover the company's Q1 FY2027. EPS came in above analysts' estimate by 5.3%; revenue above the estimate by 2.1%.
Revenue was up 24.3% from $14.9 billion a year earlier (Q1 FY2026). EPS was up 40.0% from $1.00 a year earlier. On its record, EPS topped analysts' estimates in 7 of 7 earlier comparable reports.
What the results mean
According to the company's results release, management raised its financial outlook.
Cisco Systems’ results show networking as the main driver of business growth, with demand expanding across geographic regions and customer markets. Security, collaboration and observability products also grew, while services growth was limited, making product expansion central to understanding performance.
Management linked demand to organizations’ need to scale, secure and optimize their technology environments for agentic artificial intelligence. This places the company’s networking and security capabilities within the infrastructure needs of these applications, according to management’s explanation of demand strength.
The improvement in operating margin reflects the benefits of business scale and expense discipline, despite a decline in product gross margin. This divergence matters for understanding profitability: operating efficiency supported results while product profitability remained under pressure. Growth in operating cash flow also reinforced the cash generation underpinning performance.
What to watch on the earnings call: The nature of networking demand and its distribution between enterprises and hyperscalers, the role of artificial intelligence infrastructure in purchasing decisions, the reasons for declining product gross margin alongside improving operating margin, the durability of expense efficiencies, and the factors behind limited services growth.
For the full analysis of Cisco Systems, Inc. stock — valuation, scores and financial statements — see the stock page linked with this story.