By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) hit a 52-week high Friday following an upgrade to outperform by Wolfe Research.
Wolfe is at least the third brokerage upgrade, after JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) did last month.
The stock hit a high of $53.18 on Friday but eased off a bit to trade 2.3% higher.
Wolfe’s Jeffrey Kvaal has put a target of $63 on the stock, an upside of almost 19% from the current price even after the latest boost.
Goldman has set a 12-month price target of $59 while JP Morgan’s is at $55.
A higher contribution to the revenue mix from software will contribute to multiple expansion, along with an improving hyperscale play, Kvaal wrote in the note.
Strong IT spending should prove a tailwind to estimates through the 2022 fiscal year, he said.
Cisco has mostly missed out on the rally seen in tech stocks in the year so far. Analysts see the company benefiting from higher networking opportunities as vaccinations help people return to offices.