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Cisco Systems, Inc.
Rule-based classification of fundamentals against the sector. Not a price forecast and not investment advice.
Lower valuation, weak fundamentals
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3 of 5 met · composite in line with peers
Business quality, valuation against the sector, and position in the 52-week range — whether they line up or not.
Stable quality
Profitability
4/4
Debt & liquidity
2/3
Efficiency
1/2
Valuation is where CSCO trades most distinctly from its peers: the P/E of 28.7× sits -33% below the sector median 42.7×, and EV/EBITDA of 27.9× runs -20% below the median 34.9×. Those discounts look less like a bargain and more like a reflection of weak growth — revenue growth YoY and EPS growth YoY both trail the sector median, and FCF growth YoY of -15.2% lags the median 25.7% by -159%. The F-Score of 7/9 signals stable underlying quality, with profitability components fully intact, though the efficiency and liquidity sub-scores leave room. Consensus models a recovery in earnings, but the realized three-year EPS CAGR per SEC filings of {{value:eps_cagr_3y}} trails what analysts forecast — a gap the literature associates with systematic optimism — and the beat rate over eight quarters has been weak, adding little confidence to that forward picture.
| Ticker | Name | F-Score | ROE | Revenue YoY | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | Apple | 8/9 | 171% | +6% |
Quarter-by-quarter classification · a retrospective read by the current logic · not a price forecast
Rule-based classification of fundamentals against the sector. Not a price forecast and not investment advice. The method did not see these quarters in real time; this is the current logic applied to past reports.
The market prices in earnings growth; analyst sentiment is steady; has not always beaten consensus.
Price against next year's expected earnings. The forward P/E already carries analyst optimism — read it alongside the “Versus consensus” line.
A forward P/E below the current one means the market expects earnings to grow; above it, to fall. The historical growth is realized figures from SEC filings, not a forecast.
The three-month change in the share of positive analyst ratings. This is sentiment, not an earnings-estimate revision, and not a call to act.
When Cisco reports on 2026-11-10, track revenue year over year and free cash flow growth, which currently sits 159% below the sector median. Also check whether the F-Score efficiency signals — the one area scoring 1/2 — show any improvement in asset turnover.
Pull Cisco's most recent 10-K on SEC EDGAR and focus on management's discussion of the current ratio, which stands at 1.30 against a sector median of 1.30 — 28% below peers. The risk factors section should clarify whether liquidity pressure is structural or tied to a specific capital allocation cycle.
Pick two or three companies from the same-sector table in section 06 and line up EV/EBITDA figures. Cisco trades at 34.9×, already 20% below the sector median — seeing where it sits relative to names you select yourself gives a clearer sense of whether that discount is narrow or wide within the cohort.
Steps you can check yourself, based on the figures in this brief.
Piotroski F-Score: nine binary tests of financial strength from the annual report. A ✓ marks a test passed, a dot (·) a test failed.
Over 4 years: +49%-46%+30%-4%
Over 4 years: 0.421.521.831.21
Over 4 years: +11%-6%+5%+12%
The context on the right shows how each figure compares with the sector median. The trend below tracks the change over recent fiscal years.
Beat consensus in 8 of 8 recent quarters — the company clears estimates regularly (consensus is often set conservatively).
Last quarter's EPS against consensus, plus the estimated date of the next report.
| 32% |
| ACN | Accenture | 4/9 | 26% | +7% | 15% |
| ADBE | Adobe | 7/9 | 55% | +11% | 37% |
| AMAT | Applied Materials | 6/9 | 36% | +4% | 29% |
| AMD | Advanced Micro Devices | 7/9 | 7% | +34% | 11% |
| AVGO | Broadcom | 7/9 | 43% | +24% | 40% |
| CRM | Salesforce | 7/9 | 12% | +10% | 20% |
| CSCO | Cisco Systems, Inc. | 7/9 | 27% | +12% | 24% |
| IBM | IBM | 6/9 | 35% | +8% | — |
| INTC | Intel | 6/9 | -0% | -0% | -4% |
| INTU | Intuit | 8/9 | 20% | +16% | 26% |
| MSFT | Microsoft | 6/9 | 34% | +18% | 47% |
| NOW | ServiceNow | 4/9 | 15% | +21% | 14% |
| NVDA | NVIDIA | 3/9 | 101% | +65% | 60% |
| ORCL | Oracle | 5/9 | 54% | +17% | 31% |
| TXN | Texas Instruments | 7/9 | 30% | +13% | 34% |
A sample of 16 companies in the sector including the target, alphabetical, unranked. Data from the latest SEC annual reports.
Rule-based classification of fundamentals against the sector. Not a price forecast and not investment advice.
A simplified retrospective read: no analyst forecast (not available historically); the source is the annual report as of the date, so neighbouring quarters can rest on the same data. Quarters with the same classification in a row are merged into one row — each row is one change in the read, not a separate quarter. One ticker is an illustration of the classification logic, not statistics. How we calculate →
The last few quarters are recent context, not a fixed rate. Consensus for near quarters is set low, so companies clear it routinely; over long horizons the forecasts run the other way, too high.
A description of what the market and analysts expect. Not a price forecast and not investment advice. Analyst forecasts run systematically optimistic over long horizons — read them with that discount.