Cisco Beats Forecasts and Raises Outlook on AI Demand as Stocks Await Inflation Data

Cisco Systems beat Wall Street’s expectations and raised its full-year outlook late Thursday, saying demand for the networking gear behind artificial intelligence is still in its early innings. The results arrived as investors braced for a fresh inflation reading on Friday morning after a down day for stocks.

Cisco’s quarter

For its fiscal first quarter, Cisco reported revenue of $18.52 billion, up about 24% from a year earlier and above the roughly $18.1 billion analysts expected, according to CoinCentral and StockStory. Adjusted earnings came in at $1.40 per share, compared with expectations of $1.33.

Full-year outlook raised: Cisco now expects fiscal 2027 revenue of $74.8 billion to $75.8 billion, up from $72.2 billion to $73.4 billion, with adjusted earnings of $5.47 to $5.53 per share.
AI sales: the company now forecasts $9 billion in AI infrastructure sales to large cloud companies, up from a previous $7.5 billion forecast and more than double the $4 billion of a year earlier, CoinCentral reported.
Next quarter: revenue guidance of $18 billion to $18.2 billion.
Margins: adjusted gross margin slipped to 65.6% from 68.1%, which CoinCentral attributed to higher memory chip costs.

Chief Executive Chuck Robbins described the moment as the “very early stages of a multi-year networking supercycle.” Shares rose 2.4% to $104.55 right after the release, StockStory said, though CoinCentral reported trading turned roughly flat in a volatile after-hours session. The stock was up about 32% this year before the report.

A rough Thursday for stocks

Wall Street slipped Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 0.35%, the Dow 0.36% and the Nasdaq 0.39%, according to TipRanks. Small-company stocks fared worse, with the Russell 2000 fund IWM down 1.64%, Stock Titan reported.

Much of the attention was on Nvidia, which closed down 4.34% at $166.19 after announcing that co-founder Jensen Huang had resigned as CEO, as we reported Thursday. Other chipmakers held up better: AMD rose 5.86% and Broadcom 5.54%, Stock Titan said. Microsoft shares slipped before Friday’s open as engineers worked to fix a widespread Outlook outage, according to TipRanks.

Inflation data in focus

At 8:30 a.m. ET Friday, the government releases the October producer price index, a measure of wholesale prices that can foreshadow what consumers pay. Economists expect a 0.4% rise after a 1.3% jump in September, TipRanks reported. Earlier this week, October consumer prices rose 0.4%, more than the 0.3% forecast.

Other data Thursday showed first-time jobless claims rising by 9,000 to 200,000, still a low level by historical standards, according to Stock Titan. Futures were mixed early Friday, with S&P 500 futures up 0.12% and Nasdaq-100 futures down 0.13% before dawn.

For more context, see our earlier coverage of the week ahead for inflation and Cisco earnings and how AI results have swung the market.

What to watch next

After the wholesale inflation report, investors turn to Nvidia’s quarterly results on November 17 and Walmart’s earnings next week, a key read on holiday shoppers. Upstormed News will follow the numbers.

Why it matters for families

Cisco’s results show how much money is flowing into the equipment that powers AI, a trend that affects jobs, retirement accounts and even electricity demand. Meanwhile, inflation reports shape interest rates on mortgages, car loans and credit cards. A hotter-than-expected reading could keep borrowing costs high heading into the holidays.

This article is general information, not investment advice.

Are higher prices changing your holiday budget this year? Tell us in the comments.

Sources: CoinCentral, “Cisco (CSCO) Stock Stalls After Hours Despite Earnings Beat and Bigger AI Forecast” (November 12, 2026); StockStory, “Cisco surprises with Q3 CY2026 sales” (November 12, 2026); TipRanks, “Stock Market Today, Nov. 13: U.S. Stocks Wobble Ahead of PPI Data” (November 13, 2026); Stock Titan, “Stock Market Today, November 12, 2026” (November 12, 2026)