What the AI Boom Looks Like From Inside Cisco with Sam Badri | The Real Eisman Playbook Ep 77

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Steve Eisman (1:04)

Hi, this is Steve Eisman. Welcome to another episode of The Real Eisman Playbook. So we've been doing a lot of work on AI on this podcast for the last many, many months. We've gotten different perspectives. We've had on Gil Luria and Dan Ives, who are very positive. We've had Gary Marcus on who was negative. We recently had Ed Zichrun on who was really negative. But it's also good to talk to people who are not commentators, but are in the trenches.

And so today we have as a returning guest, an old friend of mine, Sam Badri, who is Head of Investor Relations at Cisco. Sam, welcome back.

Sam Badri (1:44)

Thank you, Steve.

Steve Eisman (1:45)

So for those who don't know you, other than the fact that you are Head of Investor Relations at Cisco, just tell people a little bit about your background. When did you join Cisco and what were you before that?

Sam Badri (1:54)

Yes. And thank you for having me back again. Maybe I'll do the funny plug first.

Steve Eisman (1:59)

Okay.

Sam Badri (1:59)

One of my family members recently asked me, they said, hey, Sammy, you're involved in this tech finance stuff. Have you heard of the Einstein Playbook? And I said, do you mean the Eisman Playbook? They're like, yeah, yeah, that. I said, yeah, I'm familiar.

It's kind of funny. So congrats on the success. Thank you.

Steve Eisman (2:15)

I think I may change the name. I think it's a better name.

Sam Badri (2:17)

Okay. If it's getting to one of my family members who are asking this question, it means you have reach and distribution.

So I started off, I graduated from undergrad. I started off in consulting at PWC. I did that for about a year and eight, a year and nine months. And then I started my career really on Wall Street at Credit Suisse, working as a macro researcher. I did that for a very short period of time before going into the equity research department, where I started off really at the kind of the lowest part of the totem pole as a junior analyst.

Steve Eisman (2:50)

So you were working for another analyst?

Sam Badri (2:52)

Correct. I can even call him out. His name was Kolbinder Garsha.

He was the guy who covered Apple, IBM, HP, HPQ.

Steve Eisman (3:00)

Good coverage.

Sam Badri (3:01)

Really big coverage, big cap. And it was while the sector was changing.

Steve Eisman (3:05)

What years were this?

Sam Badri (3:06)

This was going back to the 2013 plus time period.

So I worked in the trench as a junior analyst for quite a bit of time. And I was a research associate and a junior working for a senior analyst. And then I did that for a number of years. I think it was about four years. And then I got tapped to take over data center infrastructure coverage, which included companies that at the time weren't even well known. They were Equinex and Digital Realty. And I helped out on an IPO for say a company called Switch, Switch Inc.

Steve Eisman (3:37)

Which got bought out, didn't it?

Sam Badri (3:38)

It got, it went private. And there are already reports that it may potentially go public again. But we'll see how that ends up happening. Okay. And then I started off with data centers. I then absorbed networking. So companies like Cisco, Arista, Juniper at the time. It also included companies.

Sorry, in addition to that, I started growing my coverage into large cap software. That's when I started bringing in companies like Oracle, Microsoft, and some others. And then Credit Suisse was acquired by UBS. And in that window of time, I made the decision to leave Credit Suisse. And while I was on garden leave, and then soon after I started at the new bank, around the window of time, the former CFO of Cisco approached me and said, Steve, would you like to come and take on this head of investor relations role to help explain our story to investors and analysts?