F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Releases FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) updated its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 17.210-17.330 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 15.750. The company issued revenue guidance of $3.4 billion-$3.4 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $3.3 billion. F5 also updated its Q4 2026 guidance to 4.140-4.260 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded F5 from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Friday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on F5 from $355.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on F5 from $356.00 to $423.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $382.67.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $15.75 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $407.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,611,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 768,532. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $400.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $329.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.47, a PEG ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 1.03. F5 has a 1-year low of $223.76 and a 1-year high of $435.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The network technology company reported $4.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.00 by $0.73. F5 had a return on equity of 21.50% and a net margin of 21.96%.The business had revenue of $865.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $834.60 million. F5 has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.260 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.210-17.330 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that F5 will post 12.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other F5 news, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.19, for a total transaction of $2,171,178.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 20,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,295,158.08. The trade was a 22.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,328 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.58, for a total value of $439,010.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,474.80. The trade was a 14.15% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold 22,579 shares of company stock worth $7,836,860 over the last ninety days. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key F5 News

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly results beat estimates: F5 reported adjusted EPS of $4.73, well above the $4.00 consensus, while revenue reached $865.08 million versus expectations of $834.60 million. The company posted a 21.96% net margin and 21.50% return on equity. F5 Quarterly Results Press Release
• Positive Sentiment: Product growth remained robust: Fiscal third-quarter product revenue increased 19% year over year, helping drive 11% total revenue growth. Management said the company has delivered eight consecutive quarters of double-digit product growth, signaling continued demand for its application and API security offerings. F5 Reports Third Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Full-year guidance was raised above consensus: F5 forecast fiscal 2026 EPS of $17.210 to $17.330, compared with the $15.750 analyst estimate, and revenue of approximately $3.4 billion versus the $3.3 billion consensus.
• Positive Sentiment: Fourth-quarter outlook also topped expectations: Management projected EPS of $4.140 to $4.260 and revenue of $870 million to $890 million, exceeding consensus estimates of $3.950 EPS and $858 million revenue.
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and momentum warrant monitoring: FFIV is trading near its 52-week high, with a price-to-earnings ratio of about 33 and a PEG ratio of 4.60. The strong results support the rally, but the elevated valuation increases sensitivity to any slowdown in growth or weaker future guidance.

Institutional Trading of F5

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of F5 by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,190 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of F5 by 4.5% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in F5 by 9.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in F5 by 5.0% during the third quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,180 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in F5 by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 153 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.