Should Cisco Also Consider a Split?

Apparently splits are on analysts' minds. Coming the same day that Hewlett-Packard confirmed plans to split into two separate hardware and software businesses, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue on Monday said Cisco should consider the same. Separating its cloud business from its legacy IT business could help the company's share price rise to levels not seen in 14 years, said the analyst, who has an outperform rating on Cisco. RBC believes the increased flexibility and other benefits, such as tax breaks, could help Cisco's stock get up to $40, which would mark an increase of 57% from today's levels. Shares of Oracle were up 0.7% to $25.48 in premarket trade. "eBay, Agilent, JDSU and even HP this morning get high marks from investors for their ability to adapt to a changing world," Sue said.