On the morning of January 12, 2026, Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) closed at $78.45—a 12% gain for the year and its highest price since the company went public in 1990. The surge came not from a single earnings beat or product launch, but from a quiet, sustained shift in Wall Street’s perception of the tech giant’s pivot to artificial intelligence. Analysts, once skeptical of Cisco’s ability to compete in AI infrastructure, now cite its $1.2 billion acquisition of AI startup
Cisco Stock Rallies as AI Strategy Wins Over Wall Street
