Zacks Research Analysts Decrease Earnings Estimates for F5

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) – Equities researchers at Zacks Research cut their Q1 2027 earnings per share estimates for F5 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, November 10th. Zacks Research analyst Team now anticipates that the network technology company will post earnings per share of $3.33 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $3.37. Zacks Research currently has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for F5’s current full-year earnings is $14.19 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for F5’s Q2 2027 earnings at $3.21 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $3.45 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $3.93 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $13.94 EPS, Q1 2028 earnings at $3.74 EPS, Q2 2028 earnings at $3.72 EPS, Q3 2028 earnings at $4.05 EPS, Q4 2028 earnings at $4.40 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $15.92 EPS.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The network technology company reported $4.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.16. F5 had a return on equity of 21.00% and a net margin of 21.14%. The firm had revenue of $917.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $884.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.39 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis.

FFIV has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of F5 from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of F5 from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $443.00.

F5 Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $320.01 on Thursday. F5 has a one year low of $223.76 and a one year high of $483.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.73. The company has a market capitalization of $18.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $416.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $364.89.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in F5 during the 2nd quarter valued at about $70,355,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,611,637,000. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $14,596,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 22,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $9,211,000 after purchasing an additional 2,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in F5 by 96.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 555,809 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $231,194,000 after purchasing an additional 272,273 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Angelique M. Okeke sold 1,007 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.06, for a total transaction of $326,328.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $927,459.72. This represents a 26.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 3,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.70, for a total transaction of $1,186,727.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 185,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,248,757.10. This trade represents a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,261 shares of company stock worth $10,263,863. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

F5 announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 27th that authorizes the company to buy back $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Key Headlines Impacting F5

Here are a few of the latest headlines about FFIV:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised its FY2027 EPS forecast to $13.94 from $13.77, including increases to estimates for several quarters. A separate analysis described F5 as potentially 10% undervalued as demand for AI security builds. Zacks Research estimate revisions F5 stock may be 10% undervalued as AI security demand builds
• Neutral Sentiment: F5 will present at the 2026 RBCCM Global Technology, Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference on November 18; no new financial guidance was announced. F5 to participate in upcoming financial conference
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks lowered its FY2028 EPS forecast to $15.92 from $16.16 and trimmed estimates for multiple FY2028 quarters, including Q3 and Q4. This tempers the more favorable FY2027 revisions. Zacks Research estimate revisions

About F5

F5, Inc. provides application delivery and security solutions that help organizations manage, protect and optimize applications across data centers, public clouds and edge environments. Its offerings serve businesses, government agencies and service providers around the world. The company’s products and services include BIG-IP application delivery and security software, NGINX technologies for application development and delivery, and F5 Distributed Cloud Services. These offerings support functions such as traffic management, web and API protection, application security and multicloud connectivity.