Cisco Systems, Inc. Q3 2026 Earnings Recap

Cisco shares rallied 16.4% following Q3 results driven by significant upside in product orders and AI infrastructure demand, with broad-based growth across networking and hyperscaler segments clearly outperforming expectations.

Key Takeaways

• Q3 revenue reached a record $15.8 billion, up 12% year-over-year, fueled by 17% growth in product revenue.
• Total product orders surged 35% year-over-year; excluding hyperscalers, orders still rose 19%, indicating strong underlying demand.
• AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers hit $1.9 billion in Q3, with FY26 full-year expectations raised to ~$9 billion, 4.5x FY25.
• Networking products grew over 50%, led by triple-digit service provider routing and continued double-digit gains in campus switching, wireless (40%+ growth), and enterprise data center switching.
• Acacia optics business delivered its strongest quarter with over $1 billion in orders, positioning Cisco as a market leader in coherent pluggable optics.