Dallas, Texas 01/14/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), the Dow Jones and S&P 500 index tracked technology and networking solutions provider got some good news coming its way yesterday when rating agency Barron’s upgraded the stock.
Growth In spite Of Competition
Barron’s lead analyst, Jack Hough has gone on to explain the reasons behind his prediction about the stock posting healthy returns in 2014, by listing out the following pointers in his note to his clients, which is being quoted here. “Stock could return 20% over the coming year, not because the competitive threat isn’t real, but because the stock’s valuation appears to factor it in, and then some. The new threat to CSCO is software-defined networks, and although SDNs are largely in a proof-of-concept stage with widespread adoption still years away, some 20% of CSCO customers by then could be tempted to try commodity gear.”
The analyst note goes on to predict that in spite of the weak guidance provided by John Chambers and team with respect to returns and profitability of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in 2014, their prediction is that shares of the networking major is currently priced too cheaply (it was trading at $22.19 per share on January 13 close of business) for investors to pass up on the opportunity.
Cisco Weak Guidance for FY 14
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is scheduled to provide earnings update for its 2Q in less than 30 days. The analysts have been taking a close look at the company’s updates and new releases to decipher how the quarter has progressed till date for the firm. Investors in the stock of the networking major have suffered a loss of 3.9 percent in the past quarter and many other analysts have had a contrary opinion about the prospects of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in outperforming its own weak guidance given the emergence of news software driven network technology providers.