Cisco stock enjoys longest winning streak in more than three years

The streak began on March 5, which was when JPMorgan Chase analyst Samik Chatterjee upgraded Cisco CSCO, +1.21% stock from overweight to neutral on his expectation, based on a Gartner forecast, that enterprise information-technology spending is poised to exceed expectations after some companies paused spending last year.

Chatterjee also singled out Cisco’s on-track transformation to subscriptions, as well as what he called the San Jose, Calif.-based company’s “still inexpensive valuation following underperformance to peers.” The competition he mentioned: F5 Networks Inc. FFIV, +1.28%, Dell Technologies Inc. DELL, +0.54%, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. HPE, +1.52%, HP Inc. HPQ, +1.68% and Xerox Holdings Corp. XRX, -3.16%

Cisco stock has increased 31.3% in the past 12 months, as the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.65% has gained 45.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.53% — which counts Cisco as a component — has risen 41.4%. Analysts are pretty evenly split on whether to buy or hold the stock, with 12 of 26 analysts tracked by FactSet rating shares the equivalent of a buy, and the other 14 calling it a hold. The average price target on the stock is $51.90.