New York, February 21, 2026, 14:03 (ET) — The market is closed.
- Cisco ended Friday at $79.20, gaining 0.8% and marking its third straight session in the green.
- Cisco’s chief operating officer unloaded 10,233 shares, according to an SEC filing, part of a pre-arranged trading plan.
- Next week, traders are zeroed in on Nvidia’s results, looking for signals on AI infrastructure spending and hardware profit margins.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO.O) closed out Friday trading 0.8% higher at $79.20 on Nasdaq, notching a third consecutive advance with investors already looking ahead to a jam-packed AI lineup next week. 1
Why it matters now: Cisco’s been moving alongside the AI infrastructure crowd, with shares staying volatile. Reuters, in its Wall Street Week Ahead column, put the spotlight on Nvidia’s upcoming results as the key hurdle for what it calls an “AI-sensitive” U.S. market. “It’s hard for Nvidia to surprise when everyone expects it to surprise,” said Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at Empower. 2
Cisco’s top brass aren’t shying away from that narrative. Jeetu Patel, the company’s president and chief product officer, told The Economic Times that Cisco plans to roll out “at least a half-dozen” AI-built software products in 2026. The pipeline’s tight: “Today, all the capacity that’s being built is being consumed right away… we are still short on compute,” Patel said. 3
A fresh filing surfaced: Thimaya K. Subaiya, Cisco’s executive vice president for operations, sold 10,233 shares on Feb. 19, fetching prices between $78.50 and $79.05 for a total haul near $804,000. The stock sales went through under a Rule 10b5-1 plan — that’s the preset arrangement some execs use to offload shares on a fixed timetable. 4
Cisco shares have clawed back some ground after that earnings jolt earlier this month—triggered by a spike in global memory prices that dragged adjusted gross margin down to 67.5%, missing forecasts and wiping about 7% off the stock in after-hours trading. “Compressed margins definitely took some shine off the report,” said Jake Behan, head of capital markets at Direxion. CEO Chuck Robbins told analysts the company “now expect[s] to take AI orders in excess of $5 billion,” adding that price hikes and fresh contract terms are already in play to cushion the blow from higher costs. 5
Still, margins are the immediate concern. For this quarter, Cisco is projecting a non-GAAP gross margin between 65.5% and 66.5%. The EPS outlook? That factors in the expected effect of tariffs tied to the existing trade policy. 6
Now the real question is if Cisco manages to parlay AI networking into lasting market share. Earlier this month, the company rolled out its Silicon One G300 switch chip alongside a new router targeting the sprawling AI data center space—directly challenging Broadcom and Nvidia. “We focus on the total end-to-end efficiency of the network,” executive vice president Martin Lund told Reuters. 7
Cisco is still digging out from that post-earnings drop—shares plunged 12.3% on Feb. 12, finishing at $75.00. By Friday’s close, the stock had bounced back roughly 6% from that low. 8
Nvidia’s fiscal fourth-quarter results drop Feb. 25, with the conference call coming at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET). Cisco traders will be watching for any signals on AI capex trends and component pricing—potential tone-setters once the market reopens. 9
