Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is scheduled to release its most recent quarterly earnings after the markets close on Wednesday. Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.56 in earnings per share (EPS) and $11.55 billion in revenue. The fiscal second-quarter of last year reportedly had $0.57 in EPS and $11.93 billion in revenue.

Cisco made a daring move earlier this year. When AppDynamics was set to make its initial public offering (IPO), Cisco stepped in and bought the entire company just two days before the debut. The transaction was valued at roughly $3.7 billion in cash and equity.

In a move that rarely happens, Cisco stepped in front of the IPO and offered approximately twice what the offering would have brought the company. The question for investors is who could be next? In a timely research note, the analysts at Stifel think more mergers and acquisitions could indeed be on the way. They also think the small and midcap companies are the likely targets.

Rowan Trollope, Cisco senior vice president and general manager of Cisco’s Internet of Things and Applications Business Group, commented on the acquisition:

Applications have become the lifeblood of a company’s success. Keeping those apps running and performing well has never been more important. Unfortunately, that job has only gotten harder, as IT departments and developers struggle with a tangled web of disconnected, complex data that’s hard to understand. The combination of Cisco and AppDynamics will allow us to provide end to end visibility and intelligence from the network through to the application; which, combined with security and scale, and help IT to drive a new level of business results.

A few analysts weighed in on Cisco ahead of the earnings report:

• Oppenheimer has a Buy rating with a $34 price target.
• Drexel Hamilton reiterated a Buy rating with a $36 price target.
• Baird reiterated an Outperform rating with a $35 price target.
• William Blair reiterated an Outperform rating.
• Pacific Crest reiterated an Overweight rating.
• Wells Fargo also reiterated an Overweight rating.

Excluding Wednesday’s move, Cisco has outperformed the broad markets in 2017, with the stock up nearly 7% year to date. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is actually up 25%.

Shares of Cisco were trading up 0.8% at $32.58 on Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $33.26 and a 52-week trading range of $25.65 to $32.67.

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