Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) stock is 15.2% higher to trade at $117.39 this morning, after the tech behemoth reported upbeat fiscal third-quarter earnings and a better-than-expected current-quarter outlook. The company also said it plans to cut roughly 5% of its staff to support AI initiatives.
CSCO opened at a new record high and is pacing for its widest bull gap in 25 years -- in fact the biggest ever recorded. The Dow name also sports a healthy 40% year-to-date gain. Should these gains hold, CSCO will be on track for an 11th win in 12 sessions. No fewer than 10 analysts have hiked their price targets in response this morning, the highest from Evercore ISI and Rosenblatt Securities to $150.
Options traders are coming in droves as well, with 144,000 calls and 47,000 puts exchanged within the first half an hour of trading. This is 13 times the average daily pace, with the May 120 and 125 calls seeing the most attention, with sell-to-open activity detected at both.
