While stronger technology spending across Wall Street and a spell of innovation at Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) have boosted the stock to post-recession highs, shares now look a little expensive, according to Nomura Instinet.
The brokerage downgraded Cisco’s stock to neutral from buy on Friday, arguing that the strong stream of IT purchases that has buoyed shares may reverse in 2019 to “reveal imperfections in Cisco’s story.”
The analyst reiterated his 12-month price target of $50, which implies just 5.3%upside over the next year from Thursday’s close of $47.47. That price target yields a multiple of about 15 times Nomura’s calendar year 2019 earnings per share expectation of $3.33.
Cisco announced this week that it, along with UBS, will be co-hosting an ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Conference Call/Webcast for the Financial Community, Monday morning.
Kathy Mulvany, Cisco’s VP of Corporate Affairs, and Darrel Stickler, Cisco’s Environmental Sustainability Lead, will provide an overview of Cisco’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, priorities and goals, and explain why Cisco’s CSR initiatives play an important role in overall shareholder value creation.
Cisco boasts a status as the worldwide technology leader that has been making the Internet work since 1984. "Our people, products, and partners help society securely connect and seize tomorrow's digital opportunity today," saith the company’s website.
Shares of Cisco dropped $1.29,, or 2.7%, to $46.06 following the downgrade; shares are up 23.9% this year.
