Cisco Climbs as Wolfe Upgrades on Potential Return-to-Office Bump
Shares of Cisco (CSCO) - Get Cisco Systems Inc. Report were rising Friday afternoon after a number of recent analyst upgrades of the telecom-equipment major, most recently from Wolfe Research.
Cisco was a laggard last year as the COVID-19 forced many companies' employees to work from home.
Now that enterprises are pressing employees to return to on-site work, the San Jose, Calif., networking company could see a bump.
Cisco was upgraded to outperform from peer perform at Wolfe Research, with analysts saying that the company has durable growth prospects. "[Strong] IT spending should prove a tailwind to Cisco estimates" through 2022, the firm said.
Wolfe raised its price target to $63 a share from $48.
Shares of Cisco at last check were 2.5% higher at $52.93. The new target indicates 22% upside from Thursday's closing price at $51.64.
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As employees return to offices, "we could see a shift in IT spending toward enterprise projects that were left behind in COVID," said Ted Mortonson of Baird in a recent note.
"Between enterprise spending, better valuations, and a possible lift from infrastructure, you're seeing names like Cisco and IBM (IBM) - Get International Business Machines Corporation Report go up and to the right."
Goldman Sachs also published a bullish note recently, saying a return to offices would lead to better IT spending in general, with Cisco seeing a tailwind from a replacement cycle for older technology.
JPMorgan also upgraded the stock in early March, citing a recovery in enterprise spending.
Cisco next month is scheduled to report fiscal-third-quarter results. Wall Street is expecting adjusted earnings of 82 cents a share as revenue grew about 5% to $12.59 billion.
That growth would represent the fastest pace since 2018, according to Bloomberg.
