Jefferies analysts wrote in a note the Federal Reserve putting the brakes on interest rate hikes has given acquirers more certainty around their funding costs, helping dealmaking. Cisco's deal valued Splunk at 7 times projected 12-month revenue, according to Jefferies. "We note that the typical security company with 20% growth trades at about 7 times (sales)," BTIG analysts wrote in a note last week. Private software companies may also be more receptive to takeovers. "A tidal wave of software M&A (is) on the horizon," Wedbush analysts wrote in a note last week.

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Persons: Chuck Robbins, David Chen, Morgan Stanley, Chen, Jefferies, Keith Skirbe, Houlihan Lokey's, Milana Vinn, Anirban Sen, Anna Driver Organizations: Cisco Systems, Cisco, Crowdstrike Holdings, Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle, Francisco Partners, TPG Inc, Federal Reserve, IBM, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Jefferies, Thomson Locations: New York