Cisco Systems has announced that its Chief Financial Officer, Scott Herren, will retire in July and be succeeded by current Chief Strategy Officer Mark Patterson. The company also raised its forecast for fiscal 2025, citing steady demand from cloud customers for its networking equipment, driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. Shares of the San Jose-based company rose 2% in extended trading following the announcement.
Financial Highlights
Cisco received AI infrastructure orders worth over $600 million from web-scale customers in the third quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to over $1 billion. The company’s forecast assumes that current tariffs and exemptions will remain in place until the end of the 90-day pause on July 9, after which they will revert to country-specific reciprocal levies.
Revenue and Profit Projections
For fiscal 2025, Cisco expects revenue between $56.5 billion and $56.7 billion, up from its previous forecast of $56 billion to $56.5 billion. Analysts had estimated revenue of $56.47 billion. The company also expects adjusted per-share profit between $3.77 and $3.79 for the current fiscal year, compared to its prior projection of $3.68 to $3.74 per share.
Quarterly Results
In the third quarter, Cisco reported revenue of $14.15 billion, beating estimates of $14.08 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 96 cents per share, surpassing expectations of 92 cents apiece. Cisco’s products, including ethernet switches and routers, have benefited from increased data center investment as technology giants ramp up capital expenditure to meet the computing power needed for generative AI applications.
Industry analyst David Heger notes that Cisco has improved its position in the market for switches targeted at cloud data centers and expects continued strong growth from these customers. The company’s performance reflects the growing demand for infrastructure to support AI applications.
