Cisco's Q3 Earnings Call: Our Top 5 Analyst Questions

Cisco’s third quarter performance was met with a positive market reaction, as revenue and non-GAAP profit both exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. Management credited robust demand for AI infrastructure and campus networking solutions as primary drivers of growth, highlighting that total product orders grew across all geographies and customer segments. CEO Chuck Robbins noted, “Our strong top-line performance combined with operating efficiencies and solid execution by our teams contributed to non-GAAP EPS growth of 10% as we continue to grow earnings faster than revenue.” The quarter also benefited from an acceleration in orders for advanced networking, enterprise routing, and industrial IoT products.

Is now the time to buy CSCO? Find out in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members).

While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention.

Our Top 5 Analyst Questions From Cisco’s Q3 Earnings Call

• Aaron Rakers (Wells Fargo) asked about the diversity and growth of Cisco’s AI orders, especially in the web scale vertical. CEO Chuck Robbins clarified that $1.3 billion in new orders reflected broad hyperscale engagement, and the company expects at least twice the orders from last year’s group.

• Meta Marshall (Morgan Stanley) inquired if the upside in AI orders was driven by scale across opportunities or deepening existing engagements. Robbins responded that most growth stemmed from expanding current use cases, with scale across expected to increase in importance.

• Tal Liani (Bank of America) questioned why growth outside of AI remained modest. CFO Mark Patterson highlighted that, excluding hyperscale AI, the rest of the business grew 9% in orders, with tougher year-over-year comparisons ahead.

• James Fish (Piper Sandler) asked about the penetration of Silicon One chips and Splunk’s shift to cloud subscriptions. Robbins explained Silicon One’s gradual rollout and cited performance and programmability as key advantages, while Patterson noted that the Splunk cloud transition, though impacting short-term revenue, improves stickiness and long-term growth.

• Ben Reitzes (Melius Research) sought details on the multiyear nature of the product refresh cycle. Robbins credited faster adoption of new routing, Wi-Fi, and switching products as evidence of a multi-year upgrade opportunity, driven by AI preparation and security integration.

Catalysts in Upcoming Quarters

Looking ahead, the StockStory team will be monitoring (1) the pace of AI infrastructure order growth, particularly from hyperscale and sovereign cloud customers, (2) adoption rates of next-generation networking and edge platforms like Unified Edge, and (3) stabilization in security revenue as the Splunk cloud transition progresses. Execution on global partnerships and continued development of AI-ready solutions will also be key areas to watch.

Cisco currently trades at $77.28, up from $73.99 just before the earnings. Is the company at an inflection point that warrants a buy or sell? The answer lies in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members).

High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions

The market’s up big this year - but there’s a catch. Just 4 stocks account for half the S&P 500’s entire gain. That kind of concentration makes investors nervous, and for good reason. While everyone piles into the same crowded names, smart investors are hunting quality where no one’s looking - and paying a fraction of the price. Check out the high-quality names we’ve flagged in our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).

Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,754% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.