Cisco Shares Rally as Earnings Loom and Company Launches Anthropic-Powered AI Security Tools

Cisco shares contributed to a broad equity surge on November 9, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing roughly 1,150 points as Caterpillar and Cisco led index gains. The move came ahead of the company's fiscal first-quarter earnings report scheduled for after the market close on Thursday, November 13, with analysts projecting revenue of $18.12 billion, up approximately 21.7% year over year, and GAAP earnings of $1.32 per share compared with $1.00 a year earlier. A separate estimate from the earnings calendar puts non-GAAP EPS consensus at around $1.05. Cisco has beaten analyst estimates for six consecutive quarters.

Despite the session's gains, Cisco shares have lost roughly $145 billion in market value since hitting a record high near $130 in June, sliding to approximately $93.85 and cutting the company's market capitalization from around $511 billion to $369 billion. One analyst note flagged the stock as potentially 15% undervalued given its AI growth trajectory, while the stock's technical picture remains strained, with a death cross forming as the 50-day and 200-day exponential moving averages converge. Support near $88.32 is the next downside level if selling resumes, while a recovery would put the $100 level back in view.

The company's AI-related infrastructure business remains the central growth driver. Last quarter, total revenue climbed 18% to $17.3 billion and operating margin reached 24.7%, with hyperscaler-tied infrastructure revenue hitting about $4 billion. Cisco expects that figure to roughly double to $7.5 billion for the current fiscal year. Shares are trading at approximately 18.2 times forward earnings, a slight discount to the broader technology sector.

Separately, Cisco announced a suite of new AI security products on November 9, unveiling frontier AI red teaming capabilities and agent observability tools aimed at enterprises deploying autonomous AI agents. The company integrated Anthropic's Claude Mythos model into its AI Defense platform specifically for red teaming and security testing of AI applications and agents, addressing what Cisco described as growing security risks as autonomous systems gain broader enterprise access.