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Cisco Systems (CSCO) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Cisco Systems (CSCO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $53.88, moving +1.28% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.59% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.35%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.83%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the seller of routers, switches, software and services had lost 6.35% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 2.71% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.84% in that time.

Cisco Systems will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Cisco Systems to post earnings of $1.03 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 19.77%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $14.61 billion, up 7.18% from the prior-year quarter.

CSCO's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.05 per share and revenue of $57.74 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +4.11% and +1.3%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Cisco Systems. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.02% lower within the past month. Cisco Systems currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Cisco Systems is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 13.14. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.21, which means Cisco Systems is trading at a discount to the group.

Meanwhile, CSCO's PEG ratio is currently 2.08. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. CSCO's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.93 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Networking industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 21, which puts it in the top 9% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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