Cisco Q4 revenue rises 18% YoY to $17.3B, AI infrastructure orders surge

Source: MarketBeat Read Time: 7 min

CSCO -8.40%

Key Points

• Record results: Cisco's fourth-quarter revenue rose 18% year over year to $17.3 billion, while non-GAAP EPS increased 23% to $1.22. Full-year revenue reached $63.3 billion, up 12%.
• AI is accelerating demand: Fiscal 2026 hyperscale AI infrastructure orders reached $9.3 billion, approximately 4.5 times the prior year. Cisco expects $7.5 billion in related revenue in fiscal 2027.
• Positive outlook and shareholder returns: Cisco forecast fiscal 2027 revenue of $72.2 billion to $73.4 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $5.05 to $5.11. The company returned $12.7 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks in fiscal 2026.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) reported record fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results, citing broad demand for networking, AI infrastructure, security, and collaboration products. The company also issued fiscal 2027 guidance calling for continued revenue and earnings growth as it pursues what Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins described as a multiyear networking "super cycle" tied to AI deployment.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 18% year over year to a record $17.3 billion. Product revenue increased 24% to $13.5 billion, while services revenue was flat at $3.8 billion. Non-GAAP net income reached $4.9 billion, and non-GAAP earnings per share increased 23% to a record $1.22, according to CFO Mark Patterson.

For the full fiscal year, Cisco reported revenue of $63.3 billion, up 12%. Non-GAAP net income rose 13% to $17.2 billion, and non-GAAP EPS increased 14% to $4.33. Patterson said the company increased its non-GAAP operating margin by 40 basis points to 34.8% for the year.

Orders Rise Across Customer Markets

Cisco reported that total product orders increased 35% in the fourth quarter, led by a 95% increase from service provider and cloud customers. Key order growth figures include:

• Enterprise product orders: Up 21%
• Public-sector orders: Up 30%
• Americas: Up 44%
• Europe, Middle East, and Africa: Up 25%
• Asia-Pacific, Japan, and China: Up 19%

All geographic regions posted double-digit growth.

Networking product orders climbed 40% during the quarter, extending the portfolio's streak of double-digit order growth to eight consecutive quarters. Cisco cited triple-digit growth in service-provider routing and Acacia optics, along with double-digit increases in data-center switching, compute, campus switching, wireless, enterprise routing, and industrial Internet of Things products.

Campus networking product orders grew 20%, while data-center networking orders increased more than 35%. Robbins noted that Wi-Fi 7 orders represented more than half of Cisco's wireless orders in the quarter. He also stated that more than half of Cisco customers purchase both campus and data-center networking solutions.

AI Infrastructure Orders Reach $9.3 Billion for the Year

Hyperscale AI infrastructure was a central contributor to Cisco's quarterly demand. The company recorded $4 billion in hyperscale AI infrastructure orders during the fourth quarter, bringing fiscal-year orders to $9.3 billion — roughly 4.5 times the fiscal 2025 total. According to Robbins, approximately 60% of those orders were Silicon One-based systems and 40% were optics.

Cisco's Acacia optics business generated more than $1 billion in fourth-quarter orders. The company said it won three new hyperscale customers during the period.