** Cisco Systems CSCO.O said on Wednesday that its finance chief Scott Herren will retire from the company in July, and raised its annual results forecast, betting on steady demand from cloud customers for its networking equipment, driven by the artificial intelligence boom

** Shares of the networking equipment maker rise 3.5% in premarket trading

AI-POWERED ASCENT

** J.P.Morgan ("overweight," PT: $73) is optimistic about co's growth, highlighting strong AI orders and resilient enterprise IT spending, which they believe will sustain its growth momentum

** Piper Sandler ("neutral," PT: $64) says they see multiple opportunities for co, but it needs AI orders to kick to revenue, the networking refresh cycle to pick up, or continued M&A to sustain growth

** Morgan Stanley ("overweight," PT: $67) is positive about co's growth in AI infrastructure orders and sees potential for further upside if co continues to perform well

** Morningstar (fair value: $56) sees co's partnership with Humain, Saudi Arabia's state-backed AI company, as a major long-term growth opportunity, positioning it strategically in the global AI market

(Reporting by Rashika Singh in Bengaluru)

((rashika.singh@thomsonreuters.com))