F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Releases Q4 2026 Earnings Guidance

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) issued an update on its fourth quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Monday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 4.140-4.260 for the period, compared to the consensus 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 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $407.96 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $400.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $330.81. F5 has a one year low of $223.76 and a one year high of $435.00. The firm has a market cap of $23.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 1.03.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The network technology company reported $4.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by $0.73. F5 had a net margin of 21.96% and a return on equity of 21.50%. The firm had revenue of $865.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $834.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.16 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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 predict that F5 will post 12.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on FFIV. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on F5 from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Evercore upgraded F5 from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. 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 note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 3,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.39, for a total value of $1,276,346.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 146,989 shares in the company, valued at $49,592,618.71. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,328 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,060 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,474.80. This represents a 14.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 22,579 shares of company stock worth $7,836,860 over the last three months. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

F5 News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: F5 reported adjusted earnings of $4.73 per share, well above the roughly $4.00 consensus estimate, while revenue of $865.1 million exceeded expectations near $834.6 million. Revenue increased 10.9% year over year, and EPS rose from $4.16 in the comparable period. F5 quarterly earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: Product revenue grew 19%, marking eight consecutive quarters of double-digit product growth. Management said F5’s platform is becoming increasingly mission-critical for securing applications and APIs in an AI-driven environment. F5 Reports Third Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: F5 raised its fiscal 2026 revenue-growth forecast for the third time this year, citing strong cybersecurity demand. Its full-year EPS outlook of $17.21–$17.33 is above the approximately $15.75 analyst consensus, while projected revenue of about $3.4 billion also exceeds expectations. F5 raises annual revenue growth forecast
• Positive Sentiment: Fourth-quarter guidance was also ahead of forecasts, with EPS of $4.14–$4.26 versus a $3.95 consensus and revenue of $870 million–$890 million versus expectations of $858 million. F5 Fiscal Q3 Earnings and Guidance

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 166.5% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 62,906 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $16,750,000 after buying an additional 39,305 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of F5 by 1,281.4% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in F5 by 38.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 298,297 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,428,000 after acquiring an additional 82,835 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in F5 in the first quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in F5 by 288.1% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.