Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) just filed an 8-K reporting its fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year 2026 results (the quarter ended July 25, 2026). It was a record quarter that beat Wall Street on both revenue and profit, driven by a networking upgrade cycle and a surge in AI-infrastructure orders from the big cloud providers.

The numbers (fiscal Q4 2026)

• Revenue: $17.3 billion, up 18% year over year — ahead of the ~$16.8 billion analysts expected and above the top of Cisco's own guidance.
• Earnings per share: Non-GAAP EPS of $1.22 (beat the ~$1.17 estimate); GAAP EPS of $0.97. Non-GAAP EPS rose 23% YoY.
• The story — AI and networking demand: Total Q4 product orders jumped 35% YoY; networking product orders grew 40%, the eighth straight quarter of double-digit order growth. AI-infrastructure orders from hyperscalers hit $4 billion in the quarter ($9.3 billion for the full year).
• Margins: Non-GAAP operating margin of 35.9% — a sign the extra revenue is dropping through to profit.
• Guidance (raised): Cisco expects Q1 FY2027 revenue of $18.0–$18.2 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $1.32–$1.34, and full-year FY2027 revenue of $72.2–$73.4 billion — pointing to continued double-digit growth.

What is an 8-K "Item 2.02"?

An 8-K is the form US companies file to disclose a material event between their big quarterly (10-Q) and annual (10-K) reports. Item 2.02 — "Results of Operations and Financial Condition" is the specific 8-K item a company uses to release its quarterly earnings. The actual press release with all the numbers is attached as an exhibit (here, Exhibit 99.1). So when a company "reports earnings" after the bell, this 8-K is the official document the headline numbers come from — filed straight to the SEC, before any news article is written about it.

Why it matters

Cisco makes the switches, routers and networking gear that data centers run on. Two things stand out here. First, a beat on both revenue and EPS plus raised guidance tells you demand is running ahead of what management previously expected. Second, the standout driver is AI: cloud "hyperscalers" (the largest data-center operators) are ordering Cisco's networking hardware to wire together the GPU clusters that train AI models. Cisco delivered about $4 billion of AI-related revenue in FY2026 and guided to roughly $7.5 billion in FY2027 — that is the piece of the business the market watches most closely, because it links Cisco directly to the AI buildout.

One number to read carefully: GAAP EPS jumped 52% while non-GAAP EPS rose 23%. That gap mostly reflects an easier year-ago comparison (higher one-time charges last year), so the non-GAAP figure is the cleaner read on underlying operating momentum. Whenever GAAP growth is far larger than non-GAAP growth, it is worth asking what changed in the charges — not assuming profit truly grew that fast.

Beginner takeaway

Cisco had a strong quarter: record revenue, a beat versus expectations, and higher guidance — with AI-driven networking demand as the engine. A "beat and raise" like this is generally read as a healthy sign, but a single quarter is one data point, not a verdict on the stock. What you actually want to track over time is whether those AI orders keep converting into revenue.

FAQ

What does "beat estimates" actually mean? Analysts publish an average forecast (consensus) before earnings. "Beat" means the reported number came in higher than that forecast — here, $1.22 non-GAAP EPS vs. the ~$1.17 expected.

What is a "hyperscaler"? It is shorthand for the largest cloud/data-center operators — think Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta — who buy networking gear at massive scale to build out AI and cloud capacity.

Why are there two EPS numbers, GAAP and non-GAAP? GAAP follows strict accounting rules and includes everything. Non-GAAP strips out items management considers one-off or non-cash (like stock compensation and acquisition costs) to show "underlying" profit. Both are useful; neither is the whole picture.

Does a beat mean the stock will go up? Not necessarily. Shares often move on guidance and expectations already "priced in," not just the reported quarter. This post explains the filing — it is not a prediction.

As of August 12, 2026. Source: official SEC filing — read it directly here. We summarise filings for education and may make errors, so always verify against the official document. Educational content only — not investment advice, not a buy/sell recommendation.