Shares jumped 19% after hours as hyperscaler orders hit US$9 billion
Cisco's best rally in over two decades signals Wall Street's AI infrastructure bet is paying off.
Cisco shares surged as much as 19 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday, the sharpest potential single-session gain since 2002, after the networking giant posted record quarterly revenue.
The company also slashed its earnings outlook for Wall Street and nearly doubled its AI order target for the fiscal year.
The stock had already climbed 32 percent in 2026 before the results, reaching a record close of US$101.87 and soaring as high as US$120.80 after hours, according to Bloomberg.
If the gains hold through Thursday, Cisco would log its biggest single-day rally in more than two decades, CNBC reported — outpacing the Nasdaq's 14 percent advance this year by a wide margin.
The catalyst: Cisco raised its full-year hyperscaler order target to US$9bn from US$5bn, after taking in US$5.3bn in AI infrastructure orders so far this fiscal year, Reuters reported.
The company also lifted its fiscal-year AI revenue forecast to US$4bn from US$3bn, and CFO Mark Patterson told Reuters it is “reasonable” to expect at least US$6bn on the AI hyperscale side in fiscal 2027.
Networking product orders grew more than 50 percent year-over-year in the quarter, while data-centre switching orders rose more than 40 percent, the wire service added.
Ryan Lee, Direxion's senior vice president of product and strategy, told Reuters the move reflects a broader spending shift.
“This move validates that this capex is about more than just chips,” he said.
According to CNBC, third-quarter revenue came in at US$15.84bn — up 12 percent year-over-year and ahead of the US$15.56bn analyst consensus compiled by LSEG.
Non-GAAP earnings per share hit US$1.06, topping the US$1.04 expected.
Networking revenue rose 25 percent to US$8.82bn, leading product growth.
For the fourth quarter, Cisco guided for revenue of US$16.7bn to US$16.9bn and non-GAAP earnings per share of US$1.16 to US$1.18 — well ahead of analyst expectations of US$15.82bn and US$1.07, respectively.
According to Reuters, the company raised its full-year revenue outlook to US$62.8bn to US$63bn, up from US$61.2bn to US$61.7bn previously.
Cisco also announced it will cut fewer than 4,000 jobs — less than 5 percent of its roughly 86,200-person workforce — beginning May 14, with restructuring charges of up to US$1bn expected through fiscal 2027.
CEO Chuck Robbins framed the cuts as a reallocation rather than a retreat.
“The companies that will win in the AI era will be those with focus, urgency, and the discipline to continuously shift investment toward the areas where demand and long-term value creation are strongest,” he said in a blog post Wednesday.
Shares of rivals Arista Networks and Hewlett Packard Enterprise also rose in after-hours trading following the results, Bloomberg noted.
