Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) is one of the most recognizable and established companies in the Technology sector. With a market cap of more than $188 billion, they are also one of the largest, if not THE largest player in the Networking & Communications segment.
They are, without question, the standard that all other networking (including cloud-based services) businesses are measured and compete against. No matter whether you’re talking about wired or wireless networking, CSCO is one of the companies that not only developed the standards and infrastructure the entire Internet is built on today, but that continues to lead the way into the future, including cloud-based computing and the next generation of technology in the so-called “Internet of Things” (IoT).
2022 has seen a lot of volatility in the marketplace, which isn’t surprising given the global issues that have dominated investor’s attention. Supply chain and labor issues that were simmering under the surface prior to 2020 became more obvious during the pandemic, and their effect have rippled into rising costs throughout the supply chain and all the way to the consumer. After cratering in early 2020 amid global economic shutdowns, energy prices not only recovered, but have driven beyond highs last seen in 2014, with no relief in sight in the near term. Altogether, those increases forced the Fed to raise interest rates twice so far this year, with experts, analysts, and average Americans all expecting rates to keep going up at least through the rest of the year. Those issues put the Tech sector, including networking companies, on the bleeding of the market’s broad downturn.
One of the interesting stories of the past couple of years has been the pandemic-driven trend that saw corporate America shift to remote working models. While many businesses are moving back to in-office operations, more seem to be adopting a modified workforce approach that combines in-office with remote work, validating the cloud-based solutions that facilitate effective hybrid workforce models. CSCO may not be getting a lot of the buzz about their services in this area, but the truth is that this company has been providing these exact solutions and services for more than two decades, from Wide Area Networking to video and teleconferencing and more. CSCO is also a big player in the 5G, next-generation WiFi, and IoT world, which represents the next stage in remote connectivity in ways that we are really only beginning to appreciate. Analysts are predicting a practically insatiable appetite from consumers and businesses alike for next-generation bandwidth, which bodes well for CSCO’s investments in those businesses, and should be a big headwind in the months, and even years to come.
While it hasn’t attracted the same kind of attention that other media-darling tech companies have seen over the last two years, CSCO’s fundamental strengths, which are considerable, attracted a healthy amount of investor interest through 2021, driving the stock into a long-term upward trend from a low at around $35 in November 2020 to a high point at the end of 2021 at around $64. Like most companies, CSCO has absorbed its share of operating challenges, including a sales decline that was attributed primarily to COVID-driven spending cuts on enterprise spending on IT infrastructure. The company’s last couple of earnings reports suggest that some of those enterprise-level end markets are beginning to recover, even while other of its cloud-based solutions (which help enable many of the remote working models described earlier) have continued to provide healthy revenue growth. CSCO is a company with a balance sheet that features outstanding liquidity, very low debt relative to liquid assets, Free Cash Flow that has remained relatively stable despite the challenges of the past two years, and a healthy, stable operating profile.
Since the start of 2022, broad market uncertainty has hit the Tech sector hard, pushing CSCO off of that $64 high and down to a May low at around $41. The stock has recovered from that point by about 10% and is sitting at about $45 as of this writing. Does the bounce off of that recent low suggest that the stock’s current trading price could offer an attractive new value-based investing opportunity? Let’s find out.
Fundamental and Value Profile
Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) designs and sells a range of products, provides services and delivers integrated solutions to develop and connect networks around the world. The Company operates through three geographic segments: Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific, Japan and China (APJC). The Company groups its products and technologies into various categories, such as Switching; Next-Generation Network (NGN) Routing; Collaboration; Data Center; Wireless; Service Provider Video; Security, and Other Products. In addition to its product offerings, the Company provides a range of service offerings, including technical support services and advanced services. The Company delivers its technology and services to its customers as solutions for their priorities, including cloud, video, mobility, security, collaboration and analytics. The Company serves customers, including businesses of all sizes, public institutions, governments and service providers. CSCO has a market cap of about $188.7 billion.
Earnings and Sales Growth: Over the last twelve months, earnings increased 4%, while sales increased by just 0.25%. In the most recent quarter, earnings grew about 1.3% while sales were 0.9% higher. CSCO has a very healthy operating profile, with Net Income running at 23.28% of Revenues over the last twelve months. In the last quarter, that number strengthened to 23.72%.
Free Cash Flow: CSCO’s free cash flow over the last twelve months is $13.5 billion. This is a number that the company has historically managed to maintain at very healthy levels, despite a drop from $14.7 billion a year ago. The current number translates to a Free Cash Flow Yield of 7.19%.
Debt to Equity: CSCO has a conservative, manageable debt-to-equity ratio of .21. CSCO’s balance sheet shows $20.1 billion in cash and liquid assets against about $8.4 billion in long-term debt. Servicing their debt is not a concern, and liquidity to pursue additional expansion or return value to shareholders via stock buybacks or increased dividends is excellent.
Dividend: CSCO currently pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share (increased in 2021 from $1.44 per share in 2021, and $1.48 at the start of 2022), and which translates to an annual yield of about 3.34% at the stock’s current price.
Price/Book Ratio: there are a lot of ways to measure how much a stock should be worth; but I like to work with a combination of Price/Book and Price/Cash Flow analysis. Together, these measurements provide a long-term, fair value target around $45 per share. That means that at its current price, CSCO is fairly valued, with about -1% downside to its fair value target. It also puts the stock’s bargain price at around $36. It should be noted that in the first quarter of this year, this same analysis yielded a fair value target at $41.50 per share.
Technical Profile
Here’s a look at the stock’s latest technical chart.
Current Price Action/Trends and Pivots: The chart above covers the last year of price activity. The diagonal red line traces the stock’s downward trend from its high in December 2021 at around $64 to its low point, reached last month at $41. It also provides the baseline for the Fibonacci retracement lines shown on the right side of the chart. The stock gapped down by several dollars on an overnight basis to hit its latest low, but has rallied to fill about half of that gap since then. That puts immediate resistance at around $46, with current support just a little below that at around $44.50. A push above $46 should have room to rally to about $48, with $50 reachable if buying activity accelerates. A drop below $44.50 should see the stock retest its 52-week low at $41 as next support.
Near-term Keys: Based on my traditional valuation metrics, I can’t call CSCO a value right now; but I do think there are a number of other elements – continued remote workforce services and solutions, 5G implementation over the next year or so, and continued improvement in corporate, enterprise spending on IT infrastructure, to name just a few – that aren’t being factored into my value analysis because of their forward-looking nature. If you’re looking for a way to work with a 600-lb gorilla in the Tech sector with a stable, attractive dividend, those could be good enough elements to make this an exception to the normal value-based argument. If you prefer to work with short-term trading strategies, a push above $46 could provide a signal for an aggressive, bullish investor to buy the stock or work with call options, with a short-term eye on $48 as a practical exit target. A drop below $44.50 could be a signal to consider shorting the stock or to buy put options, with a quick exit target at $41 on a bearish trade.