Cisco price target raised to $51 from $47 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst James Fish raised the firm’s price target on Cisco to $51 from $47 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. Following the earlier than anticipated deal closure, the firm is updating its Cisco estimates for Splunk and related debt-financing. While Cisco reiterated prior Splunk accretion guide, Piper believes these guide-posts are conservative and could see material upside over the next two-years. The firm is encouraged by the impact Splunk could have on Cisco, and would become more constructive if we could get more confidence in the core Cisco business being more stable as it likes Splunk’s impact, sees AI datacenter potential in the second half of 2024, and that numbers may have been finally “kitchen-sinked.”