Cisco shares skyrocket 17% in extended trading on robust Q3 earnings and improved guidance

Cisco, a US-based telecommunications and technology company, announced its quarterly earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2026 on Wednesday. The shares rose over 2.6% in the regular trading session after the earnings print beat analyst estimates on the major front. In the after-hours trading, the shares are trading nearly 17% higher at $118 per share, suggesting a gap-up opening on bourses on Thursday

According to investing.com, CISCO’s EPS for the quarter stood at $1.06 per share, beating the analyst estimates of $1.04 per share. Similarly, the revenue of $15.8 billion for the quarter also exceeded the expectations of $15.54 billion. Alongside this, the company announced a slew of job layoffs in the new restructuring plan

Cisco Q3 results

For the third quarter of FY26, the company’s revenue jumped 12% YoY to $15.8 billion for Q3 FY25 as compared to $14.1 billion. The net income for the quarter jumped 35% YoY to $3.4 billion compared to $2.5 billion in the previous year’s same quarter.

While announcing the layoffs, CEO Chuck Robins said, “ I am confident that Cisco will be one of the winners. This means making hard decisions. With this, we are making changes today that will result in the reduction of 4000 employees, representing less than 5% of the workforce.”

However, the company will help the outgoing employees with severance packages, extended training resources and job placement assistance through internal and external placement programmes, which have helped 75% of the employees till now. The restructuring could cost the company $1 billon, which will be recognised in the coming quarters gradually.

Despite this, the investor sentiment remained upbeat on renewed guidance as the investors see restructuring as an operational tool to improve efficiency and profitability.

Outlook and guidance

The company said the AI infrastructure orders continue to remain robust, and at the current run rate, they could even surpass their earlier guidance of $5 billion orders. If momentum continues, the company could generate $9 billion in orders in FY26 alone. Similarly, it also increased the revenue guidance for the segment from $3 billion earlier to $4 billion now. For Q4FY26, the company provided the revenue guidance of $16.7 to $16.9 billion and Non-GAAP EPS of $1.16 to $1.18 per share. For the fiscal year 2026, the company expects revenue of $62.8-$63 billion and EPS of $4.2 per share.