F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Issues FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) updated its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 15.650-16.050 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 13.810. The company issued revenue guidance of $3.2 billion-$3.3 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $3.2 billion. F5 also updated its Q2 2026 guidance to 3.340-3.460 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on F5 from $336.00 to $296.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of F5 from $321.00 to $267.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Evercore ISI restated a “cautious” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Monday, December 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, F5 has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.78.

F5 Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $2.98 on Tuesday, hitting $270.43. The company had a trading volume of 2,212,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 918,342. The stock has a market cap of $15.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 8.39 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $255.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $287.03. F5 has a 1-year low of $223.76 and a 1-year high of $346.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The network technology company reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.82. The business had revenue of $822.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $755.97 million. F5 had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 21.76%. F5’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.84 EPS. F5 has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.340-3.460 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 15.650-16.050 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that F5 will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other F5 news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 $2,041,517.10. This represents a 13.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Chad Michael Whalen sold 9,436 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.77, for a total value of $2,356,829.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,404,352.57. This represents a 26.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 33,815 shares of company stock worth $8,444,286 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

F5 News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beat — F5 reported EPS of $4.45 (consensus ~ $3.63–$3.64) and revenue of ~$822.5M (vs. ~$756M expected), well above estimates — confirms stronger-than-expected demand and improved margins. F5 Networks (FFIV) Tops Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Market reaction — outlets report a double‑digit after‑hours rally following the print, indicating investors are rewarding the stronger results and recalibrating expectations. F5 stock surges 13% after topping estimates with $822M in Q1 revenue
• Neutral Sentiment: Company disclosures — F5 published its press release and slide deck for the quarter (useful for details on product segments, revenue mix and any updated guidance). Review the materials for guidance/comments that could sustain the move. View Press Release / Slide Deck
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing legal risk — a securities class action tied to a previously disclosed “material cybersecurity incident” is active; plaintiffs allege the breach and its revenue impact support claims, which could produce settlements, legal costs and continued headline risk. Hagens Berman investigating claims after security breach disclosures
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law‑firm notices — several firms (Rosen, Pomerantz, Bernstein Liebhard, Robbins Geller, others) are soliciting lead‑plaintiff applications and reminding investors of filing deadlines, increasing the likelihood of consolidated litigation activity. Rosen Law Firm notice re: FFIV class action deadline

Institutional Trading of F5

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of F5 during the third quarter worth approximately $2,561,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in F5 by 4.5% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth $30,315,000. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth $116,000. Finally, Harvest Investment Services LLC acquired a new position in F5 during the third quarter valued at approximately $488,000. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

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.