CSCO · Forward model · Supercycle case
The Supercycle 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.
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Latest: $28.46B (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 | $17.87B |
| 2027Q2E | $18.37B |
| 2027Q3E | $18.83B |
| 2027Q4E | $19.28B |
| 2028Q1E | $19.74B |
| 2028Q2E | $20.22B |
| 2028Q3E | $20.70B |
| 2028Q4E | $21.20B |
| 2029Q1E | $21.71B |
| 2029Q2E | $22.24B |
| 2029Q3E | $22.79B |
| 2029Q4E | $23.35B |
| 2030Q1E | $23.92B |
| 2030Q2E | $24.51B |
| 2030Q3E | $25.12B |
| 2030Q4E | $25.75B |
| 2031Q1E | $26.40B |
| 2031Q2E | $27.06B |
| 2031Q3E | $27.75B |
| 2031Q4E | $28.46B |
Where each case comes from
Supercycle case — primary sources
The primary sources this case is built from — filings, calls and posts. Where they are claims by an interested party rather than disclosures, every number in the Supercycle column is what happens if they are taken at face value.
Cisco FY2026 Q4 results, 8-K Exhibit 99.1, 12 August 2026
- Aug 12, 2026 We believe the accelerating adoption of agentic AI is fueling a networking super cycle, and we are very early in this transition.
- Aug 12, 2026 Networking product orders grew 40% year over year in Q4, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.
- Aug 12, 2026 Delivered approximately $4 billion of AI infrastructure revenue in FY 2026, with $7.5 billion expected in FY 2027.
- Aug 12, 2026 FY 2027 Revenue $72.2 billion - $73.4 billion; Non-GAAP EPS $5.05 - $5.11.
Reuters, carrying the LSEG consensus, 12 August 2026
From cash flow to fair value
The published model, discounted at 8.0% a year with an exit multiple of 5.5x on revenue. The sliders above do not change this walk.
| Present value of free cash flow, 20 quarters | $95.57B |
| Terminal-year revenue | $109.67B |
| Terminal-year EBITDA | $36.92B |
| Exit multiple, on revenue | 5.5x |
| Terminal value | $603.18B |
| Discounted at 8.0% a year, terminal value becomes | $410.51B |
| Share of enterprise value from the terminal | 81% |
| Enterprise value | $506.08B |
| Net cash | −$13.62B |
| Equity value | $492.47B |
| Shares | 3.94B |
| Fair value per share | $124.95 |
| Against the deployed price of $107.44, as of | +16% |
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 $107.44 the market is paying 4.6x terminal-year revenue, holding every other assumption on this page fixed. That is the number to argue about.
The projected path
| Quarter | Networking | Security | Collaboration | Observability | Services | Revenue | YoY | EBITDA | Capex | FCF | R40 | PV of FCF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 Q1E | $10.33B | $2.26B | $1.17B | $277M | $3.83B | $17.87B | +20% | $6.20B | $393M | $4.73B | +47 | $4.64B |
| 2027 Q2E | $10.75B | $2.29B | $1.18B | $279M | $3.87B | $18.37B | +20% | $6.35B | $404M | $4.85B | +46 | $4.66B |
| 2027 Q3E | $11.13B | $2.33B | $1.18B | $282M | $3.91B | $18.83B | +19% | $6.49B | $414M | $4.95B | +45 | $4.68B |
| 2027 Q4E | $11.50B | $2.36B | $1.19B | $285M | $3.95B | $19.28B | +12% | $6.63B | $424M | $5.06B | +38 | $4.68B |
| 2028 Q1E | $11.88B | $2.40B | $1.20B | $288M | $3.99B | $19.74B | +10% | $6.77B | $434M | $5.17B | +37 | $4.69B |
| 2028 Q2E | $12.26B | $2.43B | $1.20B | $291M | $4.03B | $20.22B | +10% | $6.92B | $445M | $5.28B | +36 | $4.70B |
| 2028 Q3E | $12.66B | $2.47B | $1.21B | $294M | $4.07B | $20.70B | +10% | $7.07B | $455M | $5.39B | +36 | $4.71B |
| 2028 Q4E | $13.07B | $2.51B | $1.21B | $298M | $4.11B | $21.20B | +10% | $7.23B | $466M | $5.51B | +36 | $4.72B |
| 2029 Q1E | $13.50B | $2.55B | $1.22B | $301M | $4.15B | $21.71B | +10% | $7.39B | $478M | $5.63B | +36 | $4.74B |
| 2029 Q2E | $13.94B | $2.58B | $1.23B | $305M | $4.19B | $22.24B | +10% | $7.56B | $489M | $5.76B | +36 | $4.75B |
| 2029 Q3E | $14.39B | $2.62B | $1.23B | $309M | $4.23B | $22.79B | +10% | $7.73B | $501M | $5.89B | +36 | $4.77B |
| 2029 Q4E | $14.86B | $2.66B | $1.24B | $313M | $4.27B | $23.35B | +10% | $7.91B | $514M | $6.03B | +36 | $4.79B |
| 2030 Q1E | $15.34B | $2.70B | $1.25B | $317M | $4.32B | $23.92B | +10% | $8.09B | $526M | $6.17B | +36 | $4.80B |
| 2030 Q2E | $15.84B | $2.74B | $1.25B | $322M | $4.36B | $24.51B | +10% | $8.29B | $539M | $6.31B | +36 | $4.82B |
| 2030 Q3E | $16.35B | $2.78B | $1.26B | $326M | $4.40B | $25.12B | +10% | $8.48B | $553M | $6.46B | +36 | $4.84B |
| 2030 Q4E | $16.89B | $2.82B | $1.26B | $331M | $4.45B | $25.75B | +10% | $8.69B | $567M | $6.62B | +36 | $4.86B |
| 2031 Q1E | $17.43B | $2.87B | $1.27B | $335M | $4.49B | $26.40B | +10% | $8.90B | $581M | $6.78B | +36 | $4.89B |
| 2031 Q2E | $18.00B | $2.91B | $1.28B | $340M | $4.54B | $27.06B | +10% | $9.12B | $595M | $6.94B | +36 | $4.91B |
| 2031 Q3E | $18.59B | $2.95B | $1.28B | $345M | $4.58B | $27.75B | +10% | $9.34B | $610M | $7.11B | +36 | $4.94B |
| 2031 Q4E | $19.19B | $3.00B | $1.29B | $350M | $4.63B | $28.46B | +10% | $9.57B | $626M | $7.29B | +36 | $4.96B |
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.
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.
| Date | Fair value then | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 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. |