Cisco Is Up 17% Today: Is It Outperforming Other Networking Stocks Like Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Arista Networks?

Shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) are up astir 17% successful aboriginal Thursday trading, putting the banal adjacent $119 aft a adjacent of $101.87 connected May 13. The leap follows a fiscal third-quarter study that decisively reframed the AI networking competitory narrative.

The determination makes Cisco the wide single-day person successful networking infrastructure. By comparison, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) is up 6% to $34 and Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) is up 2% to $143.

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Cisco's marketplace headdress sits adjacent $402.4 cardinal heading into the session, and today's spread higher volition widen the gulf further. The pre-market surge positions Cisco to widen its pb implicit networking peers.

Hyperscaler Order Surge Fuels the Rally

Cisco reported grounds Q3 FY2026 gross of $15.84 billion, up 12% twelvemonth implicit year, with non-GAAP EPS of $1.06 versus the $1.04 consensus. That's Cisco's 4th consecutive EPS beat.

The header catalyst is the AI infrastructure bid guide. Cisco raised its FY2026 AI infrastructure bid people to $9 billion, up from $5 billion, and lifted FY2026 gross guidance to $62.8 cardinal to $63 billion. The institution has already booked $5.3 cardinal successful AI infrastructure orders year-to-date (YTD).

CEO Chuck Robbins stated, "Cisco delivered grounds quarterly gross successful Q3 and we saw precise strong, broad-based request for our products, demonstrating the relevance of our exertion for connecting and securing AI." Cisco's absorption besides announced plans to chopped astir 4,000 jobs, framed arsenic a reallocation toward silicon, optics, security, and AI.

Peers Diverge connected the AI Networking Read-Across

The communicative is much nuanced crossed the adjacent set. HPE banal is up 34% YTD, narrowly up of Cisco stock, which is up 32% YTD.

Arista, wide viewed arsenic the premier AI networking pure-play, is simply a comparative laggard arsenic it's up 7% YTD. Cisco's hyperscaler bid acceleration straight challenges the long-running bull lawsuit that Arista was steadily taking AI networking stock astatine Cisco's expense.