Cisco beats expectations for Q2 sales and EPS; Q3 margin forecast is light
Cisco beat Wall Street expectations for sales and earnings in its fiscal second-quarter results, which it released after the close of trading Wednesday.
Shares slid 7% in the after-hours session. A lighter-than-expected forecast for fiscal third-quarter profit margins may have played a role.
For the fiscal second quarter of 2026, the computer networking equipment giant reported:
Non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.04 vs. the $1.02 expected by Wall Street analysts, according to FactSet.
Sales of $15.35 billion vs. the $15.11 billion consensus expectation.
AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers of $2.1 billion vs. $1.3 billion in the previous quarter.
Revenue guidance for fiscal Q3 of between $15.4 billion and $15.6 billion vs. $15.19 billion consensus estimate.
Adjusted gross margin guidance for fiscal Q3 of 65.5% to 66.5%, compared with analysts’ forecasts for 68.2%.
Fiscal year 2026 sales guidance of $61.2 billion to $61.7 billion vs. previous guidance of between $60.2 billion and $61.0 billion.
Along with other companies like Lumentum, Corning, and new S&P 500 member Ciena, which provide things like the wiring and networking equipment needed to connect server racks, Cisco shares have had a strong start to 2026 as the AI data center boom continues to roll.
Through the end of trading on Wednesday they were up 11% for the year, compared to a 1.4% gain for the S&P 500.
This is a developing story.