Live: Will Cisco Smash Q1 Earnings Today After Rallying 2% Intraday?

Live Updates Cisco Is Down 12% Ahead of Q1 Earnings. Here's What Investors Are Looking For2:58pm ET

Cisco Systems reports Q1’27 earnings tonight as investors look for evidence that booming AI infrastructure demand can translate into sustained revenue growth.

Shares have fallen 11.85% over the past month, putting even more pressure on management to deliver encouraging AI order trends and hyperscaler commentary.

Here’s what investors are watching:

• Revenue: Q1 guidance of $18.0 billion to $18.2 billion, compared with consensus estimates of $18.12 billion.
• AI orders: Hyperscaler demand will be a critical indicator of future growth.
• Margins: Non-GAAP gross margin previously declined to 66.3% from 68.4%, reflecting AI hardware mix and higher memory costs.
• Growth outlook: Investors want confirmation that Cisco can sustain approximately 10% core growth alongside its AI infrastructure ramp.

Quick Read

At 18x forward earnings, Cisco offers investors exposure to the AI infrastructure boom at a considerably lower multiple than many AI tech companies.

A strong revenue beat, stable margins, and accelerating AI orders could reignite enthusiasm, but disappointing hyperscaler commentary or margin pressure could extend the recent selloff.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) is expected to report fiscal Q1 2027 results today at 4:05 PM ET. This is the first quarter of a fiscal year built around $7.5B in AI infrastructure revenue, and the stock enters earnings down 12% in the past month.

Record Year, Rocky Reaction

Cisco closed fiscal 2026 with Q4 revenue of $17.252B, up 17.58%, and non-GAAP EPS of $1.22, exceeding the $1.1688 consensus. Networking orders rose 40%, the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. AI infrastructure orders hit $4.0B in the quarter and $9.3B for the year.

The stock fell anyway, closing earnings day at $113.47 from $123.88. It now trades near $101.67, still up 34.4% year to date.

CEO Chuck Robbins called Q4 “a very strong close to fiscal 2026, marking another record year for Cisco.” CFO Mark Patterson described operating margin as “a better indicator of our profitability.”

Cisco’s Consensus Estimates Metric Q1 FY2027 Estimate YoY Change FY2027 Estimate FY2028 Estimate Revenue $18.12B +21.7% $73.17B $78.09B EPS (Normalized) $1.32 +32.4% $5.15 $5.62

Q1 EPS consensus was $1.15 90 days ago, then jumped to $1.32 after guidance and held flat. The FY2027 EPS view already stands above the $5.05-$5.11 guide. EPS growth outpacing revenue growth signals the Street is counting on operating leverage to offset gross margin compression.

What to Watch Tonight: AI Orders, Memory Costs and Margin Math

Here are some of the top items I’m watching in Cisco’s Q1 earnings report tonight:

1. AI pace. Management dropped its annual order target and forecast AI orders “meaningfully higher in FY 2027 than FY 2026,” with hyperscale revenue building gradually from Q1 through Q4. The focus will be on new Silicon One design wins beyond the three P200 scale-across customers.
2. Gross margin and pricing. The Q1 guide of 65%-66% trails Q4’s 66.3%. Price increases added about five points to Q4 growth, with 4 to 5 points forecast for FY2027, front-half weighted. Pay close attention to whether pricing keeps pace with memory inflation.
3. Demand beyond hyperscalers. Orders excluding hyperscalers rose 25%, and neocloud, sovereign, and enterprise AI orders exceeded $400 million. Campus orders climbed 20%, a key upgrade signal.
4. Security and Splunk. Cisco forecasts security and observability to grow at high single digits in FY2027. Q4 security revenue rose 14%, and investors will want to see that pace hold.

Cisco’s Earnings History Quarter EPS Surprise 1-Day Move 7-Day Move 14-Day Move Q4 FY2026 +4.38% -1.58% -3.42% -3% Q3 FY2026 +2.29% +2.32% +2.31% +3.5% Q2 FY2026 +1.75% -12.32% -8.16% -7.76% Q1 FY2026 +1.86% +4.62% +5.99% +5.8%

On average, shares moved -0.82% seven days after earnings over the past year.