JMP Securities analyst, Erik Suppiger, reiterated his Market Perform rating on shares of Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) after the company reported in-line F4Q17 EPS and revenue and guided F1Q18 EPS and revenues in line with consensus, leading the stock to trade down ~2% in the aftermarket.

Key Highlights include:

1) the company generated 50% growth in deferred revenue for software and subscription sales, in line with the prior quarter, demonstrating a continued shift toward software and away from hardware

2) switching decelerated to a multi-year low of -9% Y/Y, but data center switching growth remained
healthy at 38% Y/Y, albeit down from 42% in the prior quarter, which we think bodes well
for Arista Networks

3) Cisco’s security business continued deceleration to 3% Y/Y, down from 9% last quarter, following five consecutive quarters of double-digit growth, evidence of a challenged firewall market

The analyst stated "we believe the security results reflect a challenging firewall market, which is consistent with results from Fortinet and Check Point Software, and give us some concern
about Palo Alto Networks".

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Cisco click here. For more ratings news on Cisco click here.

Shares of Cisco closed at $32.34 yesterday.