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Cisco Systems (CSCO) Beats Stock Market Upswing: What Investors Need to Know

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In the latest close session, Cisco Systems (CSCO - Free Report) was up +2.15% at $91.50. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 1.02%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 1.62%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 0.89%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the seller of routers, switches, software and services had gained 14.94% lagged the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 20.71% and outpaced the S&P 500's gain of 12.23%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Cisco Systems in its upcoming release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.04, up 8.33% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $15.58 billion, indicating a 10.08% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.16 per share and revenue of $61.26 billion, which would represent changes of +9.19% and +8.12%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Cisco Systems. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

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. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.29% increase. Cisco Systems is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Cisco Systems has a Forward P/E ratio of 21.56 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 21.78, so one might conclude that Cisco Systems is trading at a discount comparatively.

It's also important to note that CSCO currently trades at a PEG ratio of 2.76. 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. The Computer - Networking was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.93 at yesterday's closing price.

The Computer - Networking industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 68, positioning it in the top 28% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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