How to find the Cisco stock price

Cisco Systems, Inc. designs products and services related to communication technology. The company has annual revenues of $40 billion, and is integral to the smooth working of the internet. Cisco is one of the technology giants that is now considered a blue chip investment, along with Apple, Google and Microsoft. The stock price has been relatively flat recently. The price can be obtained from any full-service broker, online broker or investment information website.

Cisco: The company

Cisco was founded in 1984 and went public in 1990. In 2009, Cisco was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which contains 30 elite American companies. Cisco is the leader in internet routing. Its products maintain the generally accepted internet protocol. The company has grown by acquisitions, buying six companies in a single year in the 1990s. At the height of the tech bubble in 2000, Cisco was the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalisation of over half a trillion dollars. Though the market cap of the company is now only a little over $100 billion dollars, it is still considered a bellwether of the economy.

Cisco: The stock

As of 08.15.11, Cisco is trading very close to $16. Price history The Cisco stock price went from under $10 in 1998 to over $75 just two years later. It then declined just as rapidly, and has traded in the $15 to $25 range since 2002. Since June of 2010, the stock has stayed below the 200-day moving average, and there has been resistance every time the stock price approached this level. Balance sheet Cisco has cash on hand that is well in excess of its debt. The total cash position is worth about $5 per share, making the stock look quite inexpensive. Revenues and earnings Revenues have grown slowly and earnings have fallen in recent quarters. Investors have been disappointed in the results but some see brighter days ahead. Short position Between one and two percent of the stock is sold short and this indicates investor's confidence in the company. Dividend Unlike many tech companies, Cisco is returning some of its cash to shareholders in the form of a dividend. The rate is a modest 1.5% looking forward. Finding the stock price You can get the stock price from a full-service broker by making a call to him. If you have an online broker, you can view the stock movement minute-by-minute by entering CISCO on the streaming quotes page. However, if you don't have a broker, many websites give free stock information and stock quotes. The easiest to use is Finance.yahoo.com.