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OKTA vs. Cisco Systems: Which Cybersecurity Stock Has an Edge?
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Key Takeaways
{\"0\":\"Okta drives growth with new identity solutions and a broad partner ecosystem.\\r\\n\",\"1\":\"Cisco boosts security with Splunk synergies, XDR, Hypershield and AI Defense.\\r\\n\",\"2\":\"CSCO\'s $2B AI infrastructure orders and NVIDIA partnership strengthen long-term growth.\\r\\n\"}
Okta (OKTA - Free Report) and Cisco Systems (CSCO - Free Report) are well-known players in the cybersecurity domain. While OKTA focuses on identity and access management, providing cloud-based solutions that help businesses safeguard user data, Cisco is growing its presence based on Threat Intelligence, Detection, and Response offerings, which include the offerings from Splunk, as well as growth in SASE and Network Security offerings.
According to Gartner, global end-user spending on information security is expected to hit $213.025 billion in 2025 from $193.408 billion in 2024. Spending is expected to grow 12.5% year over year in 2026. Per IDC, global security spending is expected to grow 12.2% year over year in 2025, with the United States and Europe expected to account for more than 70%. Spending momentum bodes well for both Okta and Cisco. But which one of them is better-placed now? Let’s find out.
The Case For OKTA
Okta’s new offerings, including Okta Identity Governance, Okta Privileged Access, Okta Device Access, Identity Security Posture Management, Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI and Fine-Grained Authorization, are driving growth. These new solutions are helping OKTA gain market share and drive top-line growth.
Okta is benefiting from a rich partner base that includes the likes of Amazon Web Services, CrowdStrike, Google, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Microsoft, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks, Plaid, Proofpoint, Salesforce, ServiceNow, VMware, Workday, Yubico and Zscaler.
Okta is providing an end-to-end secure identity fabric for securing non-human identities (NHIs). OKTA offers the same level of visibility, access control, governance and remediation as human identities to NHIs. Okta offers the ability to detect and discover NHIs, provision and register them properly, authorize and protect them with appropriate policies, and govern and monitor their behavior continuously.
However, for fiscal 2026, OKTA expects revenues between $2.875 billion and $2.885 billion, indicating 10-11% growth from the figure reported in fiscal 2025. The estimated growth rate is lower than the 15% growth Okta reported in fiscal 2025. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 revenues is pegged at $2.88 billion, indicating 10.3% growth over fiscal 2025’s reported figure.
The Case for Cisco Stock
Cisco’s security business is benefiting from strong demand for both Cisco Secure Access, Hypershield and XDR. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, orders grew mid-single-digit. Splunk and Cisco synergies reported 14% year-over-year growth in new logos for Splunk. Secure Access, XDR, Hypershield and AI Defense added 750 new customers collectively in the reported quarter. Cisco’s initiatives to infuse security deep into its networking products are expected to drive growth over the long term.
Growing AI Infrastructure orders from webscale customers boost CSCO’s prospects. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, AI Infrastructure orders from webscale customers exceeded $800 million, bringing the total revenues to $2 billion in fiscal 2025, double the management’s original expectation. Product orders from service providers and cloud customers jumped 49% year over year in the reported quarter. This was driven by triple-digit order growth in webscale customers, with orders from each of the four out of the top six webscale customers growing in the triple digits.
Cisco’s expanded partnership with NVIDIA, under which the companies plan to offer solutions that help build AI-ready data center networks, is a game-changer. Integration of Cisco Nexus switches with NVIDIA’s Spectrum-X architecture is offering low-latency, high-speed networking for AI clusters, driving enterprise AI orders. The Cisco Secure AI factory with NVIDIA provides a trusted blueprint for building secure AI-ready data centers for enterprises, sovereign cloud providers and newly emerging Neocloud providers.
For fiscal 2026, CSCO expects revenues to be $59-$60 billion compared with $56.7 billion reported in fiscal 2025. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $59.58 billion, suggesting 5.2% growth over fiscal 2025’s reported figure.
Price Performance and Valuation: CSCO vs. OKTA
Year to date, Cisco Systems shares have appreciated 14.3%, while OKTA shares have returned 14.2%.
CSCO and OKTA Stock’s Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Both CSCO and OKTA shares are currently overvalued, as suggested by a Value Score of D for each.
In terms of forward 12-month Price/Sales, CSCO shares are trading at 4.47X, lower than OKTA’s 5.17X.
CSCO and OKTA Stock’s Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
How Do Earnings Estimates Compare for CSCO & OKTA?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CSCO’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $4.04 per share, up by a penny over the past 30 days, indicating a 6% increase over the figure reported in fiscal 2025.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for OKTA’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $3.36 per share, up by a nickel over the past 30 days, indicating a 19.6% increase over the figure reported in fiscal 2025.
Cisco’s strong security portfolio, driven by the acquisition of Splunk, is aiding top-line growth. Okta’s solutions are gaining traction along with its rich partner base. However, Cisco is a much more well-established company compared with Okta, and its growing AI order backlog is expected to drive steady top-line growth. This gives Cisco an edge over Okta.
Image: Bigstock
OKTA vs. Cisco Systems: Which Cybersecurity Stock Has an Edge?
Key Takeaways
Okta (OKTA - Free Report) and Cisco Systems (CSCO - Free Report) are well-known players in the cybersecurity domain. While OKTA focuses on identity and access management, providing cloud-based solutions that help businesses safeguard user data, Cisco is growing its presence based on Threat Intelligence, Detection, and Response offerings, which include the offerings from Splunk, as well as growth in SASE and Network Security offerings.
According to Gartner, global end-user spending on information security is expected to hit $213.025 billion in 2025 from $193.408 billion in 2024. Spending is expected to grow 12.5% year over year in 2026. Per IDC, global security spending is expected to grow 12.2% year over year in 2025, with the United States and Europe expected to account for more than 70%. Spending momentum bodes well for both Okta and Cisco. But which one of them is better-placed now? Let’s find out.
The Case For OKTA
Okta’s new offerings, including Okta Identity Governance, Okta Privileged Access, Okta Device Access, Identity Security Posture Management, Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI and Fine-Grained Authorization, are driving growth. These new solutions are helping OKTA gain market share and drive top-line growth.
Okta is benefiting from a rich partner base that includes the likes of Amazon Web Services, CrowdStrike, Google, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Microsoft, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks, Plaid, Proofpoint, Salesforce, ServiceNow, VMware, Workday, Yubico and Zscaler.
Okta is providing an end-to-end secure identity fabric for securing non-human identities (NHIs). OKTA offers the same level of visibility, access control, governance and remediation as human identities to NHIs. Okta offers the ability to detect and discover NHIs, provision and register them properly, authorize and protect them with appropriate policies, and govern and monitor their behavior continuously.
However, for fiscal 2026, OKTA expects revenues between $2.875 billion and $2.885 billion, indicating 10-11% growth from the figure reported in fiscal 2025. The estimated growth rate is lower than the 15% growth Okta reported in fiscal 2025. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 revenues is pegged at $2.88 billion, indicating 10.3% growth over fiscal 2025’s reported figure.
The Case for Cisco Stock
Cisco’s security business is benefiting from strong demand for both Cisco Secure Access, Hypershield and XDR. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, orders grew mid-single-digit. Splunk and Cisco synergies reported 14% year-over-year growth in new logos for Splunk. Secure Access, XDR, Hypershield and AI Defense added 750 new customers collectively in the reported quarter. Cisco’s initiatives to infuse security deep into its networking products are expected to drive growth over the long term.
Growing AI Infrastructure orders from webscale customers boost CSCO’s prospects. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, AI Infrastructure orders from webscale customers exceeded $800 million, bringing the total revenues to $2 billion in fiscal 2025, double the management’s original expectation. Product orders from service providers and cloud customers jumped 49% year over year in the reported quarter. This was driven by triple-digit order growth in webscale customers, with orders from each of the four out of the top six webscale customers growing in the triple digits.
Cisco’s expanded partnership with NVIDIA, under which the companies plan to offer solutions that help build AI-ready data center networks, is a game-changer. Integration of Cisco Nexus switches with NVIDIA’s Spectrum-X architecture is offering low-latency, high-speed networking for AI clusters, driving enterprise AI orders. The Cisco Secure AI factory with NVIDIA provides a trusted blueprint for building secure AI-ready data centers for enterprises, sovereign cloud providers and newly emerging Neocloud providers.
For fiscal 2026, CSCO expects revenues to be $59-$60 billion compared with $56.7 billion reported in fiscal 2025. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $59.58 billion, suggesting 5.2% growth over fiscal 2025’s reported figure.
Price Performance and Valuation: CSCO vs. OKTA
Year to date, Cisco Systems shares have appreciated 14.3%, while OKTA shares have returned 14.2%.
CSCO and OKTA Stock’s Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Both CSCO and OKTA shares are currently overvalued, as suggested by a Value Score of D for each.
In terms of forward 12-month Price/Sales, CSCO shares are trading at 4.47X, lower than OKTA’s 5.17X.
CSCO and OKTA Stock’s Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
How Do Earnings Estimates Compare for CSCO & OKTA?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CSCO’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $4.04 per share, up by a penny over the past 30 days, indicating a 6% increase over the figure reported in fiscal 2025.
Cisco Systems, Inc. Price and Consensus
Cisco Systems, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Cisco Systems, Inc. Quote
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for OKTA’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $3.36 per share, up by a nickel over the past 30 days, indicating a 19.6% increase over the figure reported in fiscal 2025.
Okta, Inc. Price and Consensus
Okta, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Okta, Inc. Quote
Conclusion
Cisco’s strong security portfolio, driven by the acquisition of Splunk, is aiding top-line growth. Okta’s solutions are gaining traction along with its rich partner base. However, Cisco is a much more well-established company compared with Okta, and its growing AI order backlog is expected to drive steady top-line growth. This gives Cisco an edge over Okta.
While OKTA carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), CSCO has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.