: Cisco Systems stock falls after Raymond James downgrades, citing concerns over a weak January-quarter sales outlook

Shares of Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO slipped 0.2% in premarket trading, to buck the rally in the broader stock market, after the networking giant was downgraded at Raymond James, citing concerns over slowing sales in the near term. analyst Simon Leopold cut his rating to market perform from outperform. He believes the declining campus sales, which likely amounts to about one-third of sales declines in 2024, will contribute to an overall sales decline. And Leopold said that while the $28 billion acquisition of Splunk Inc. SPLK makes strategic sense, it “reduces options” and lacks differentiation as competitive pressures mount. “Our preliminary checks suggest the October quarter at least meets expectations, but we envision risk to the outlook,” Leopold wrote in a note to clients, as he expects sales to suffer a “worse than seasonal sales decline” in its quarter through January. Cisco is slated to report fiscal first-quarter results, which runs through October, on Nov. 15. The stock’s dip on Monday comes while futures YM00 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rally 219 points, or 0.7%, and futures NQ00 for the Nasdaq 100 NDX climbed 0.9%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.