EXTR vs CSCO Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Extreme Networks and Cisco both provide enterprise networking hardware and software, but Extreme Networks operates as a smaller, cloud-managed networking challenger, while Cisco is the long-established market leader across switching, routing, security, and collaboration.
EXTR offers exposure to a smaller networking challenger seeking share gains through cloud-managed simplicity, while CSCO offers exposure to the dominant, diversified networking incumbent with an established dividend. The decision depends on whether you prefer challenger growth potential or established incumbent scale and income.
CSCO holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. CSCO has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+63.23% vs -3.34%), though EXTR has the better forward P/E setup (14.32x vs 19.64x for CSCO). CSCO leads on both revenue growth (17.60%) and operating margin (27.70%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for EXTR (+53.88%) than for CSCO (+25.30%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to a smaller, cloud-managed networking challenger
- Value a company pursuing market share gains through simplified network operations
- Believe increasing software and subscription mix will improve the margin profile over time
- Are comfortable with a company competing against much larger, better-capitalized incumbents
- Want exposure to the dominant, diversified enterprise networking incumbent
- Value a well-established dividend supported by consistent cash flow generation
- Believe the company's transition toward software and subscription revenue will continue progressing
- Prefer scale and market leadership over challenger growth potential
| Metric | EXTR | CSCO |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 42.0 | 56.1 |
| AI ranki | #953 | #252 |
| Latest closei | $21.70 | $109.20 |
| 1M returni | -17.14% | -10.07% |
| 6M returni | +50.28% | +43.29% |
| 1Y returni | -3.34% | +63.23% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | EXTR | CSCO |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $9.67K (-3.3%) started 2025-09-04 | $16.33K (+63.3%) started 2025-09-08 |
| 5Y ago | $20.57K (+105.7%) started 2021-09-07 | $23.53K (+135.3%) started 2021-09-09 |
| 10Y ago | $55.22K (+452.2%) started 2016-09-06 | $63.19K (+531.9%) started 2016-09-09 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | EXTR | CSCO |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $2.84B | $433.28B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 70.23 | 33.01 |
| Forward P/Ei | 14.32 | 19.64 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 4.70 |
| EV/Revenuei | 2.20 | 7.07 |
| Analyst targeti | $33.50 | $137.74 |
| Target upsidei | +53.88% | +25.30% |
| Metric | EXTR | CSCO |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 10.30% | 17.60% |
| Earnings growthi | N/A | 52.00% |
| EPS growthi | N/A | +52.00% |
| FCF margini | +6.35% | +18.27% |
| Operating margini | 6.44% | 27.70% |
| Profit margini | 3.28% | 20.95% |
| ROIC proxyi | 54.64% | 27.32% |
| Return on equityi | 54.64% | 27.32% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | 1.50% |
| Betai | 1.80 | 1.00 |
| Debt/equityi | 219.63 | 58.73 |
| Current ratioi | 0.93 | 0.93 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.64 | 0.65 |
Over the past year, EXTR and CSCO have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.48), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | EXTR | CSCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -3.34% | +63.28% |
| CAGRi | -3.34% | +63.40% | |
| Volatilityi | 55.28% | 33.72% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.13 | 1.50 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.19 | 2.20 | |
| Max drawdowni | 39.87% | 16.45% | |
| Current drawdowni | 35.63% | 16.00% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 19.36% | 5.45% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 23.44% | 7.33% | |
| Max daily dropi | 19.02% | 12.32% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 26.10% | 11.44% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +105.69% | +108.71% |
| CAGRi | +15.55% | +15.86% | |
| Volatilityi | 48.74% | 25.74% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.45 | 0.53 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.65 | 0.74 | |
| Max drawdowni | 67.21% | 36.68% | |
| Current drawdowni | 35.63% | 16.00% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 34.05% | 12.61% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 39.79% | 15.63% | |
| Max daily dropi | 19.02% | 13.73% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 27.77% | 13.61% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +452.16% | +363.89% |
| CAGRi | +18.65% | +16.59% | |
| Volatilityi | 54.96% | 26.28% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.51 | 0.55 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.73 | 0.77 | |
| Max drawdowni | 87.53% | 41.95% | |
| Current drawdowni | 35.63% | 16.00% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 36.91% | 10.98% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 43.36% | 14.47% | |
| Max daily dropi | 32.03% | 13.73% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 52.76% | 16.10% |
| Category | EXTR | CSCO |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Extreme Networks, Inc. | Cisco Systems, Inc. |
| Sector | Technology | Technology |
| Industry | Communication Equipment | Communication Equipment |
| Core business | A networking company providing cloud-managed wired and wireless networking hardware and software for enterprises, focused on campus networking, data center, and network access solutions. | A global technology company providing networking hardware, software, and services including switching, routing, security, and collaboration solutions used by enterprises and service providers worldwide. |
| Investor focus | Growth in cloud-managed networking subscriptions, market share gains against larger incumbents, and margin trends as the company shifts toward higher-margin software and services revenue. | Growth in software and subscription revenue as a share of total sales, security and AI infrastructure networking demand, and dividend sustainability supported by cash flow. |
- Cloud-native network management platform provides simplified operations that can appeal to IT teams seeking to reduce networking complexity
- Challenger positioning in a market dominated by much larger incumbents creates potential for market share gains through competitive displacement
- Increasing mix of software and subscription revenue supports a path toward improved overall margin profile
- Dominant, long-established market position across enterprise switching and routing provides significant scale and channel advantages
- Broad product portfolio spanning networking, security, and collaboration creates multiple avenues for cross-selling within large accounts
- Consistent cash flow generation has historically supported a well-established dividend track record
- Competes against much larger, better-capitalized networking incumbents with broader product portfolios and channel relationships
- Hardware-dependent revenue components remain sensitive to enterprise IT capital spending cycles
- Sustaining market share gains against dominant incumbents requires continued product differentiation and channel investment
- Large scale can make it harder to achieve the same percentage growth rates as smaller, more focused networking challengers
- Transition toward software and subscription revenue requires ongoing execution amid a still-substantial hardware revenue base
- Faces competition from both traditional networking vendors and cloud-native networking challengers across different market segments
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