Cisco or Coherent: Analysts Favor Coherent Ahead of Earnings Report

Cisco Systems and Coherent are set to report their earnings on August 12, 2026. The question for investors is which stock will see a boost in value.

Coherent currently has a higher conviction skew among analysts, with 77% of them bullish and none bearish. In contrast, Cisco's distribution is more measured, with 65% of analysts bullish and 4% bearish.

The price target for Coherent is $394.62, while the current price is $325.15. The 24/7 Wall St. model targets $377.02 for Coherent, indicating a potential upside of 16%. However, this may be an overestimation as some models indicate a possible downside of 8.9%.

Cisco, on the other hand, trades at $122.57 and has a target price of $132.59. The 24/7 Wall St. model prices Cisco at $146.20, indicating an implied upside of 19.3%. This aligns with analyst signals, setting it apart from Coherent's divergent models.

Prediction markets also favor Cisco to beat earnings expectations, with a 93% probability. In contrast, there are no active prediction markets for Coherent. The Reddit sentiment skews positive for Coherent, but this is driven by a single thread about the U.S. ban on Chinese data center devices.

In terms of performance, Coherent has seen significant growth over the past year, rising 181.7%. However, it dropped 14.2% in the most recent session due to its high beta of 2.107. Cisco, while also seeing growth over the past year, has a lower beta of 1.002.

Cisco is considered the better choice for retirement-focused investors, given its higher conviction and lower variance earnings beat setup. The company's CEO, Chuck Robbins, stated that 'Cisco delivered record quarterly revenue in Q3 and we saw very strong, broad-based demand for our products,' demonstrating the relevance of their technology.