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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 at $46.50 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.78% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.63%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.68%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.64%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the seller of routers, switches, software and services had lost 2.9% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 6.93% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.95% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from CSCO as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be November 14, 2018. In that report, analysts expect CSCO to post earnings of $0.72 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 18.03%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $12.87 billion, up 6.06% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.97 per share and revenue of $51.48 billion. These totals would mark changes of +14.23% and +4.35%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for CSCO. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.04% lower. CSCO is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, CSCO currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 15.53. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.11.

Investors should also note that CSCO has a PEG ratio of 2.45 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Computer - Networking industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.26 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Networking industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 89, putting it in the top 35% 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.

To follow CSCO in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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