Cisco shares climb on strong AI-fueled equipment demand

Shares of Cisco Systems rose 7.22% in premarket trading on Thursday, after the networking equipment maker raised its annual profit and revenue forecast on robust cloud demand.

Cisco, a key supplier to cloud, enterprise and telecom customers, has been riding a wave of AI-driven infrastructure spending as businesses accelerate cloud migrations and upgrade campus networks, which has propelled its shares to gain almost 25% this year.