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Forensic Analysis · Computer Hardware · as of Nov 8, 2026

Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO)

A forensic read on Cisco Systems, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.4
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
27.3%
ROE
11.8%
Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Cisco Systems, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.4, placing it in the Grey zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by inventory days.

What the filings flag

72d
FY2025→FY2026
Inventory days. Days inventory outstanding moved from 60 to 72 FY2025→FY2026 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +80% vs +13% in cost of sales). Inventory is outrunning what's being sold — a flag for softening demand or obsolescence risk ahead.
99% of FCF
FY2026
Shareholder returns. Returned $12.7B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 99% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has actually been EASING, not tightening further — down from ~119% of free cash flow two years back. Counting the $3.8B of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 129%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$63.33B
Revenue Growth YoY+11.8%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+8.5%
Net Margin21.0%
Free Cash Flow$12.77B
Return on Equity27.3%
Debt / Equity0.45x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 8, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

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