F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.82 EPS

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The network technology company reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.82, FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $822.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $755.97 million. F5 had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 22.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.84 EPS. F5 updated its Q2 2026 guidance to 3.340-3.460 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance to 15.650-16.050 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from F5’s conference call:

• 7% revenue growth in Q1 to $822M with product revenue up 11% and systems revenue up 37%; non-GAAP EPS was $4.45 and the company repurchased $300M of stock in the quarter.
• Management raised its FY26 outlook to 5%–6% revenue growth and increased non‑GAAP EPS guidance to $15.65–$16.05, while noting a modest gross‑margin headwind from rising memory costs in H2.
• The early‑quarter security incident caused minimal demand disruption after rapid remediation (support teams handled ~9,000 extra cases), and management says response efforts strengthened customer trust and CISO engagement.
• Secular tailwinds—hybrid multi‑cloud, accelerating AI adoption, and customers consolidating to converged platforms—drove product and systems demand, including nearly as many AI customers added in Q1 as in all of FY25.
• Rising memory prices and industry supply risk are expected to slightly reduce product gross margins in H2; the company says it has mitigations (extended forecasts, qualified suppliers, broker buys) but still faces higher component costs.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $292.30 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $257.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $286.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.61 billion, a PE ratio of 24.75, a PEG ratio of 8.48 and a beta of 0.98. F5 has a 52-week low of $223.76 and a 52-week high of $346.00.

Key Stories Impacting F5

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: F5 beat Q1 expectations and raised guidance — reported $4.45 EPS vs. ~$3.63 consensus and $822.5M revenue vs. ~$756M; company raised FY26 EPS guidance to 15.65–16.05 and Q2 EPS to 3.34–3.46, driving the rally. Press Release
• Positive Sentiment: RBC Capital raised its price target to $345 and maintained an outperform rating — implies meaningful upside (~18% from recent levels) and supports further upside momentum. RBC PT Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded FFIV to a #1 (Strong Buy), adding sell-side optimism to the post-earnings momentum. Zacks Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays raised its price target modestly to $283 but kept an equal-weight rating — a mild offset to bullish activity. Barclays Note
• Neutral Sentiment: An F5 EVP sold 3,343 shares at ~$261.87 (SEC Form 4 filed). Insider sales can be neutral/benign but are monitored by investors. SEC Form 4
• Neutral Sentiment: Post-earnings commentary (e.g., Seeking Alpha) points to strong systems/product demand and AI tailwinds but also flags margin pressure from memory costs and competitive/operational risks — suggests a wait-on-valuation posture for some investors. Seeking Alpha Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms have issued investor alerts and are soliciting plaintiffs in securities-class actions tied to a prior material cybersecurity incident and an earlier stock decline; deadlines to seek lead-plaintiff status are approaching — this raises legal and reputational risk that could weigh on the stock. Hagens Berman Alert Rosen Notice

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.11, for a total value of $310,376.99. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,041,517.10. The trade was a 13.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.99, for a total value of $308,087.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 150,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,625,047.77. The trade was a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 37,158 shares of company stock valued at $9,319,717 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in F5 by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,226,326 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,042,716,000 after acquiring an additional 53,712 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,017,715 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,915,000 after purchasing an additional 25,052 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 4.1% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 839,648 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $271,366,000 after purchasing an additional 32,970 shares in the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 169.2% in the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 462,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $149,553,000 after purchasing an additional 290,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of F5 by 3.5% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 424,485 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $137,189,000 after buying an additional 14,539 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on FFIV shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on F5 from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays raised their target price on F5 from $267.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research raised F5 from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded F5 from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.89.

F5 Company Profile

F5 Inc (NASDAQ:FFIV) specializes in application services and delivery networking, helping organizations ensure the availability, performance and security of their applications. The company’s core offerings include advanced load balancing, traffic management and application security solutions designed to optimize user experiences and protect against threats such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and web application exploits.

At the heart of F5’s product portfolio is the BIG-IP platform, which provides a suite of software modules for local and global traffic management, secure web application firewalling and DNS service delivery.