Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $135.12, but opened at $145.82. Arista Networks shares last traded at $143.4130, with a volume of 5,476,734 shares.

The technology company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.07. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.28% and a net margin of 39.73%.The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Key Arista Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Arista Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Beat and raised outlook — Arista reported Q4 EPS of $0.82 vs. $0.75 consensus and revenue of $2.49B vs. $2.38B, with revenue +28.9% y/y; management raised AI revenue guidance to $3.25B (an ~18% lift to the AI target) and issued revenue guidance above Street estimates — a direct driver of the stock move. Arista Networks Raises The Bar – Hyperscalers Unleash Capex (Q4 Review)
• Positive Sentiment: Upbeat revenue guidance lifted sentiment — Arista forecast annual revenue above Wall Street estimates, citing accelerating demand from data centers and AI workloads. That forward visibility pushed shares higher in after-hours trading. Reuters: Arista forecasts upbeat revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher price targets — Needham raised its price target to $185 with a Buy rating and Rosenblatt also boosted its target, adding institutional support to the rally. Benzinga: Needham price target raise
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large options activity — Heavy call buying suggests speculative and institutional bullish positioning ahead of/after the print. Arista Sees Unusually High Options Volume
• Positive Sentiment: Outperforming peer Cisco — Coverage notes Arista handled supply-chain headwinds better than Cisco, making it the preferred way to play networking exposure right now. Barron’s: Arista Outshines Cisco
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings materials and call transcript are available for deeper read — useful for verifying management’s cadence on AI ramp and order book details. Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Cost and margin watch — Management flagged rising memory costs; they reiterated 2026 gross‑margin outlook by using strategic purchase commitments, but higher component costs remain a potential headwind if AI box prices or memory inflation persist. Seeking Alpha: margin and memory-cost discussion

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $171.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday. Erste Group Bank cut Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $184.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.41.

Insider Transactions at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 24,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,994,431.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,235,162.35. This trade represents a 70.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles H. Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.43, for a total value of $1,123,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,373,967.12. The trade was a 44.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 216,464 shares of company stock valued at $27,553,548 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Arista Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,228,177,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 2,829.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,721,156 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $833,630,000 after buying an additional 5,525,828 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 193.3% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,065,054 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $721,342,000 after buying an additional 4,656,021 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 82.5% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,587,115 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,396,939,000 after acquiring an additional 4,332,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 3,182.7% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,012,373 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $525,741,000 after acquiring an additional 3,890,146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $180.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $132.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.70.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista’s offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista’s product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company’s hardware platforms.