What to look for when Cisco Systems (CSCO) reports Q3 2025 results

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), which designs and manufactures data networking products, is preparing to report financial results for the third quarter of 2025, after posting better-than-expected quarterly results in the first half. Of late, the company has been actively integrating AI into its products and services to help customers scale their network infrastructure and enhance security.

Estimates

The San Jose-headquartered tech firm is scheduled to publish third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, May 14, at 4:05 pm ET. As per its latest guidance, the Cisco leadership targets Q3 revenues in the range of $13.9 billion to $14.1 billion. At the mid-point, it is broadly in line with analysts’ consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. The guidance for adjusted earnings is $0.90-$92 per share, while market watchers forecast Q3 EPS at $0.92.

Cisco’s stock climbed to an all-time high in mid-February, soon after the second-quarter earnings report. However, the momentum waned since then and the shares slipped to a six-month low last month. The last closing price aligns with the levels seen at the beginning of the year. However, CSCO has gained 26% over the past 12 months.

Results Beat

For the second quarter of 2025, the company reported adjusted earnings of $0.94 per share, compared to $0.87 per share in the same period of the prior year. Quarterly earnings have consistently beaten estimates for over three years. Unadjusted net income was $2.4 billion or $0.61 per share in Q2, vs. $2.6 billion or $0.65 per share in the comparable period of fiscal 2024. Second-quarter revenue increased to $14.0 billion from $12.79 billion in Q2 2024. The top line exceeded expectations, continuing the recent trend.

The management raised its full-year revenue and adjusted EPS guidance to $56.0-56.5 billion and $3.68-3.74, respectively, encouraged by the stronger-than-expected Q2 results and growing demand for AI security. There has been a steady uptick in security orders, driven by the data management and threat detection capabilities of Splunk, which joined the Cisco fold about a year ago. Splunk was accretive to second-quarter adjusted earnings, ahead of the management’s expectations.

“There is a clear demand for Cisco’s technologies, which has accelerated, as evidenced by our strong results. Our pipeline of product innovation is accelerating as we build security deep into our networking products. The strength of our performance enabled our capital allocation model to return significant value to our shareholders. Lastly, we believe our strong execution and momentum position us well as we enter the second half of fiscal year ’25,” Cisco’s CEO Chuck Robbins said in the Q2 earnings call.

Partnerships

As part of its efforts to capitalize on the rapidly growing AI market, the company recently expanded its partnership with Nvidia to provide AI technology solutions to enterprises. The goal is to better equip businesses to navigate the unique technical complexity and security demands of operating AI-ready data centers. More recently, Cisco inked a pact with ServiceNow, enabling customers to leverage the combination of its infrastructure and security platforms and ServiceNow’s AI-driven platform and security solutions.

The average price of Cisco’s shares over the past 52 weeks is $54.51. The stock traded slightly below the $60 mark in the early hours of Tuesday’s session.