Cisco reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.22, exceeding analyst estimates of $1.17, with revenue of $17.3 billion against expectations of $16.85 billion, according to the company's earnings announcement.
The infrastructure vendor's product revenue reached $13.46 billion versus consensus of $13.03 billion, while adjusted gross margin held at 66.3 percent. The company reported $4 billion in AI hyperscaler orders during the quarter, a metric the market had begun tracking as a proxy for data center spending tied to large language model buildouts and inference infrastructure.
Cisco's remaining performance obligations stood at $46.73 billion at quarter close. The metric includes software subscription backlogs and contractual commitments from enterprises and service providers, tracked closely by investors assessing the durability of software and services revenue in a market where hardware upgrades can be volatile.
The $4 billion in AI hyperscaler orders is a discrete accounting of large deals with cloud infrastructure operators and AI training companies. Cisco began separately reporting this segment after investor scrutiny intensified around how much of the networking and switching category was being driven by generative AI infrastructure spending versus traditional data center upgrades.
Cisco's performance comes as networking vendors have competed for position in the buildout cycle surrounding large language models. Rivals including Juniper Networks and Arista Networks have also highlighted AI infrastructure orders in recent earnings calls, though Cisco remains the largest in absolute switching and routing volume across enterprise and cloud operator bases.
The beat on adjusted EPS and the $4 billion AI order number both exceeded consensus expectations heading into the announcement. Remaining performance obligations of $46.73 billion represent a 7.3 percent increase from the prior quarter's $43.57 billion, with customer commitments on a sequential basis rising quarter-to-quarter.
The document to watch is Cisco's next quarterly earnings release and whether AI hyperscaler orders sustain above the $4 billion quarterly threshold or decline as the initial AI infrastructure race matures.
