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CSCO · Forward model · Bull case

The Bull case, 20 quarters out

Model as of

Each segment is projected from its own operating driver, rolled up into consolidated cash flow, and discounted back to a fair value per share. The assumptions below are editable — change them and every number on this page moves with them.

Quarter labels are Cisco FISCAL quarters, so 2026 Q4 is the thirteen weeks ended 25 July 2026, reported 12 August 2026. The five verticals are exactly the groups of similar products and services Cisco discloses — Networking, Security, Collaboration, Observability, Services — and they sum to reported consolidated revenue in all twelve quarters, with a maximum residual of $1M, which is the rounding Cisco itself discloses. Ten of the twelve quarters are read from the filed disaggregation-of-revenue note; FY2024 Q4 and FY2025 Q4 are fiscal year less nine months and are flagged estimated. AI infrastructure is NOT a vertical: it is disclosed annually only (about $4bn of FY2026 revenue, $7.5bn guided for FY2027, $9.3bn of FY2026 orders) and sits inside Networking. Every vertical margin is assumed, because Cisco discloses gross margin by geography and never by product category; the 0.5% corporate overhead is the plug that reconciles the revenue-weighted assumed margins ($22,351M) to the disclosed FY2026 non-GAAP operating income of $22,040M. Segment 'EBITDA' here therefore tracks Cisco's non-GAAP operating margin, which excludes share-based compensation of $3,830M. Tax 18.5% is the company's own FY2027 non-GAAP assumption. netCash is cash $7,218M plus investments $8,700M less short-term debt $10,161M and long-term debt $19,372M, so Cisco is $13.6bn net DEBT. Shares are the 3,941,434,665 on the Q3 FY2026 10-Q cover; the FY2026 10-K was not filed as of 2026-08-27. Price is the 26 August 2026 close of $112.36. The engine carries no seasonality, and Cisco's fiscal Q1 is seasonally its weakest quarter, so the base case is calibrated to the FULL-YEAR guide: FY2027 lands at $73.3bn inside the guided $72.2-73.4bn, with the first projected quarter at $17.9bn just under the guided $18.0-18.2bn. Reading the quarter alone would have broken the year.

CSCO forward model
Horizon
Fair value per share $127.01 +18% against $107.63
Terminal-year revenue $102.19B last four projected quarters
Enterprise value $514.22B $96.93B explicit + $417.29B terminal

The order book is the leading indicator and it keeps leading. AI infrastructure revenue runs past the guided $7.5bn, Services finally converts its +6% RPO into revenue growth, and Security compounds on Splunk, holding 6x exit sales. What this case does NOT reach is Arista's 23x sales: even a very good Cisco is a $70-100bn revenue business earning a low-30s operating margin, and it keeps a large-cap multiple.

CSCO REVENUE MODEL

Latest: $26.29B (2031Q4E)

Period Value
2024Q1 $14.67B
2024Q2 $12.79B
2024Q3 $12.70B
2024Q4 $13.64B
2025Q1 $13.84B
2025Q2 $13.99B
2025Q3 $14.15B
2025Q4 $14.67B
2026Q1 $14.88B
2026Q2 $15.35B
2026Q3 $15.84B
2026Q4 $17.25B
2027Q1E $18.00B
2027Q2E $18.51B
2027Q3E $18.92B
2027Q4E $19.31B
2028Q1E $19.69B
2028Q2E $20.07B
2028Q3E $20.46B
2028Q4E $20.86B
2029Q1E $21.27B
2029Q2E $21.68B
2029Q3E $22.10B
2029Q4E $22.53B
2030Q1E $22.97B
2030Q2E $23.42B
2030Q3E $23.87B
2030Q4E $24.34B
2031Q1E $24.81B
2031Q2E $25.30B
2031Q3E $25.79B
2031Q4E $26.29B
Scenarios

Where each case comes from

Valuation

From cash flow to fair value

The published model, discounted at 8.0% a year with an exit multiple of 6.0x on revenue. The horizon and sliders above do not change this walk.

Present value of free cash flow, 20 quarters$96.93B
Terminal-year revenue$102.19B
Terminal-year EBITDA$35.87B
Exit multiple, on revenue6.0x
Terminal value$613.13B
Discounted at 8.0% a year, terminal value becomes$417.29B
Share of enterprise value from the terminal81%
Enterprise value$514.22B
Net cash−$13.62B
Equity value$500.60B
Shares3.94B
Fair value per share$127.01
Against the deployed price of $107.63, as of +18%

4.5x terminal-year revenue. Cisco trades at 7.17x FY2026 sales today — EV $456.5bn on a $442.9bn market cap and $13.6bn of net debt, 24.4x EV/EBITDA and 33.4x trailing earnings — after a 52-week run from $66.13 to $130.37. That is roughly double the multiple it carried through its flat years, and the exit is deliberately a de-rate toward what a mature networking incumbent earns once it is no longer priced on an order book: 4.5x sales is about 13x the terminal EBITDA this model projects, against 16x if the AI mix holds and 24.4x today. Arista is the pure-play comparable at 23.0x sales and 52.3x EBITDA; Cisco is already carrying an AI multiple on a business where AI was about 6% of FY2026 revenue. Move the exit multiple before anything else — it is worth more than any growth assumption here. The discount rate is 8.5%, an investment-grade mega-cap cost of capital on a levered balance sheet.

Read the other way round: at $107.63 the market is paying 4.9x terminal-year revenue, holding every other assumption on this page fixed. That is the number to argue about.

Quarter by quarter

The projected path

The published model's 20 quarters. The horizon and sliders above do not change this table.

Quarter NetworkingSecurityCollaborationObservabilityServices Revenue YoY EBITDA Capex FCF R40 PV of FCF
2027 Q1E $10.41B$2.28B$1.18B$279M$3.86B $18.00B +21% $6.52B $396M $4.99B +49 $4.89B
2027 Q2E $10.77B$2.33B$1.20B$284M$3.93B $18.51B +21% $6.68B $407M $5.11B +48 $4.92B
2027 Q3E $11.05B$2.38B$1.21B$288M$4.00B $18.92B +19% $6.80B $416M $5.21B +47 $4.91B
2027 Q4E $11.29B$2.43B$1.23B$293M$4.07B $19.31B +12% $6.92B $425M $5.30B +39 $4.90B
2028 Q1E $11.52B$2.49B$1.24B$299M$4.14B $19.69B +9% $7.04B $433M $5.39B +37 $4.89B
2028 Q2E $11.76B$2.55B$1.26B$304M$4.21B $20.07B +8% $7.16B $442M $5.48B +36 $4.88B
2028 Q3E $11.99B$2.60B$1.27B$310M$4.28B $20.46B +8% $7.29B $450M $5.57B +35 $4.87B
2028 Q4E $12.23B$2.66B$1.29B$316M$4.36B $20.86B +8% $7.41B $459M $5.67B +35 $4.86B
2029 Q1E $12.48B$2.72B$1.31B$322M$4.44B $21.27B +8% $7.54B $468M $5.77B +35 $4.85B
2029 Q2E $12.73B$2.78B$1.32B$329M$4.51B $21.68B +8% $7.68B $477M $5.87B +35 $4.84B
2029 Q3E $12.99B$2.85B$1.34B$336M$4.59B $22.10B +8% $7.82B $486M $5.97B +35 $4.83B
2029 Q4E $13.25B$2.91B$1.36B$343M$4.67B $22.53B +8% $7.96B $496M $6.08B +35 $4.83B
2030 Q1E $13.51B$2.98B$1.37B$350M$4.76B $22.97B +8% $8.10B $505M $6.19B +35 $4.82B
2030 Q2E $13.79B$3.04B$1.39B$357M$4.84B $23.42B +8% $8.25B $515M $6.31B +35 $4.82B
2030 Q3E $14.06B$3.11B$1.41B$365M$4.93B $23.87B +8% $8.40B $525M $6.42B +35 $4.81B
2030 Q4E $14.34B$3.18B$1.42B$373M$5.01B $24.34B +8% $8.56B $535M $6.54B +35 $4.81B
2031 Q1E $14.63B$3.26B$1.44B$381M$5.10B $24.81B +8% $8.72B $546M $6.66B +35 $4.80B
2031 Q2E $14.93B$3.33B$1.46B$389M$5.19B $25.30B +8% $8.88B $557M $6.79B +35 $4.80B
2031 Q3E $15.23B$3.40B$1.48B$398M$5.28B $25.79B +8% $9.05B $567M $6.91B +35 $4.80B
2031 Q4E $15.53B$3.48B$1.50B$406M$5.37B $26.29B +8% $9.22B $578M $7.04B +35 $4.79B

Every row is projected. A year-over-year change is shown only where the quarter it compares against exists — an em dash means there is no comparable quarter, not a flat year.

Track record

Model revisions

Assumptions are marked to reality as each quarter prints. Every change is appended here, with the fair value the model produced at the time, so the model's own history stays visible.

DateFair value thenNote
2026-08-27 $85.60 Initial model. Five verticals on Cisco's disclosed groups of similar products and services, basis FY2026 Q4 at $17,252M, FY2027 calibrated to the guided $72.2-73.4bn with Networking carrying the AI step-up and Services taking a partial RPO catch-up. Exit 4.5x terminal revenue against 7.17x today.