2006 price change: +59.2%

Cisco was definitely a growth stock again this year. Shares have rallied since August on solid earnings and upbeat forecasts from the tech bellwether. Growth has been driven by businesses upgrading their networks – Cisco dominates the market for routers and switches, the equipment that helps direct traffic on the Internet – as well as the company’s push into other areas like home networking.

2007 outlook: Analysts are forecasting earnings to rise at a rate of 15 percent for the next few years – not a bad growth rate for a mature company. Whether Cisco is able to keep up that pace will in part depend on how its foray into home networking plays out. It bought cable set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta this year. And analysts expect Cisco to benefit as more consumers shift to Internet video and phone services.