F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Updates Q4 2026 Earnings Guidance

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) updated its fourth quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 4.140-4.260 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 3.950. The company issued revenue guidance of $870.0 million-$890.0 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $858.0 million. F5 also updated its FY 2026 guidance to 17.210-17.330 EPS.

F5 Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $403.46 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $401.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $331.76. F5 has a 12 month low of $223.76 and a 12 month high of $435.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a PEG ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 1.03.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The network technology company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $865.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $834.60 million. F5 had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 21.94%. F5’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.16 earnings per share. F5 has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.260 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.210-17.330 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that F5 will post 12.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FFIV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of F5 from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on F5 from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays raised their target price on F5 from $386.00 to $397.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $408.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Edward Cooper Werner sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,400. This represents a 86.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Kunal Anand sold 3,123 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.33, for a total value of $1,006,636.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 12,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,930,492.02. This represents a 20.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,579 shares of company stock valued at $7,836,860. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

More F5 News

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong Q3 results: F5 reported adjusted EPS of $4.73, above the $4.00 consensus, while revenue rose 10.9% year over year to $865.1 million, exceeding expectations of $834.6 million. Product revenue increased 19%, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit product growth. F5 Reports Third Quarter Results with 19% Product Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Higher guidance: Management raised its fiscal 2026 outlook, forecasting EPS of $17.21–$17.33 and revenue of approximately $3.4 billion. Fourth-quarter guidance of $4.14–$4.26 EPS and $870–$890 million in revenue also exceeds consensus estimates. The company cited strong cybersecurity demand, hybrid multicloud adoption and application-security growth. F5 raises annual revenue growth forecast
• Positive Sentiment: AI expansion: F5 plans to acquire CalypsoAI to add advanced AI guardrails for large enterprises, potentially strengthening its position in securing AI applications and APIs. F5 to Acquire CalypsoAI
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reactions are mixed: JPMorgan raised its target to $515 and kept an overweight rating, while Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $415 but maintained equal weight. Barclays raised its target to $397 and also kept equal weight. The reported average target of $382.67 remains below the current share price.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and margins temper enthusiasm: With F5 trading near its 52-week high and at roughly 32 times earnings, investors may be taking profits. Coverage has also highlighted a cautious margin outlook, making the shares sensitive to any evidence that elevated AI and product investment could limit earnings expansion. F5 Lifts 2026 Outlook As Valuation Questions Come Into Focus

Institutional Trading of F5

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in F5 by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,190 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in F5 by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of F5 by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 601 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 5.0% in the third quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,180 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in F5 by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 153 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

About F5

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.