Barron's gets bullish on Cisco

The stock "could return 20% over the coming year, not because the competitive threat isn't real, but because the stock's valuation appears to factor it in, and then some," Jack Hough writes, in a bullish article on Cisco (CSCO).

Hough notes that the "new threat" to CSCO is software-defined networks, and although "SDNs are largely in a proof-of-concept stage" with widespread adoption still years away, "some 20% of CSCO customers by then could be tempted to try commodity gear."

Despite reduced guidance and competitive headwinds, Barron's suggests the shares are just too cheap to pass up: "[The company] doesn't have to remove all doubts about its shares to rebound 20%," Hough concludes.