Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 7, 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.

A · High-quality compounder

Forensic grade

Safe

Financial health

7.3

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

39.8

P / E (ttm)

21.7%

ROE

$478.6B

Market cap

1.39%

Dividend yield

5.3%

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 (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). 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 an A (High-quality compounder) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 7.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

13.1%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 13.1% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from 18% — a modest positive spread over its ~10% cost of capital — growth adds value, though not dramatically.

94% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $12.4B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 94% 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 ~109% of free cash flow a few years back. Counting the $3.6B of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 121%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$56.65B

Revenue Growth YoY+5.3%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)+3.2%

Net Margin18.0%

Free Cash Flow$13.29B

Return on Equity21.7%

Debt / Equity0.53x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 7, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.