F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.82 EPS

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The network technology company reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.82, FiscalAI reports. 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.84 earnings per share. F5 updated its Q2 2026 guidance to 3.340-3.460 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance to 15.650-16.050 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from F5’s conference call:

• 7% revenue growth in Q1 to $822M with product revenue up 11% and systems revenue up 37%; non-GAAP EPS was $4.45 and the company repurchased $300M of stock in the quarter.
• Management raised its FY26 outlook to 5%–6% revenue growth and increased non?GAAP EPS guidance to $15.65–$16.05, while noting a modest gross?margin headwind from rising memory costs in H2.
• The early?quarter security incident caused minimal demand disruption after rapid remediation (support teams handled ~9,000 extra cases), and management says response efforts strengthened customer trust and CISO engagement.
• Secular tailwinds—hybrid multi?cloud, accelerating AI adoption, and customers consolidating to converged platforms—drove product and systems demand, including nearly as many AI customers added in Q1 as in all of FY25.
• Rising memory prices and industry supply risk are expected to slightly reduce product gross margins in H2; the company says it has mitigations (extended forecasts, qualified suppliers, broker buys) but still faces higher component costs.

F5 Stock Up 6.4%

NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $17.19 on Wednesday, hitting $287.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,327,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,085,091. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $256.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $286.88. The stock has a market cap of $16.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.39 and a beta of 0.98. F5 has a 52-week low of $223.76 and a 52-week high of $346.00.

More F5 News

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: F5 reported blockbuster Q1 results — GAAP EPS $4.45 vs. ~$3.63 consensus and revenue $822.5M vs. ~$756M; management cited strong product revenue (~11% growth), AI and hybrid/multi?cloud demand, and the stock rallied after-hours. F5 surges after Q1 results topple estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Company raised guidance materially: FY2026 EPS guide 15.65–16.05 (well above Street ~13.81) and Q2 EPS guide 3.34–3.46 (vs. ~3.05 consensus), supporting the bullish reaction and implying stronger margin/cash conversion than expected. F5 Inc Q1 2026 Earnings Call Highlights
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts are staying cautious despite the beat — Needham reaffirmed a “hold,” a reminder that not all sell?side views turned bullish on the print. Needham hold reaffirmed (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Several outlets are debating valuation and whether recent gains already price in AI/application?security upside; investors should compare elevated guidance to the stock’s P/E and moving averages. Is F5 Fairly Priced (Yahoo Finance)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms and investor alerts continue to pursue securities?class actions tied to F5’s disclosed “material cybersecurity incident” last year; ongoing litigation and potential remediation costs/loss of customer trust are a notable risk that could cap gains. KSF class action notice (GlobeNewswire)
• Negative Sentiment: Hagens Berman and other firms are investigating claims related to the cybersecurity incident and its revenue impact; regulators/litigation developments and the Feb. 17 lead?plaintiff deadlines bear watching. Hagens Berman investigation (GlobeNewswire)

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other F5 news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.73, for a total transaction of $291,630.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,995,910.19. This represents a 8.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.99, for a total transaction of $308,087.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 150,323 shares in the company, valued at $35,625,047.77. This represents a 0.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,815 shares of company stock valued at $8,444,286. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FFIV. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in F5 by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Norinchukin Bank The boosted its stake in F5 by 2.3% during the third quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 3,314 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,071,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in F5 by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,785 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,870,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of F5 by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,077 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FFIV. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded F5 from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded F5 from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $295.00 to $345.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on F5 from $267.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.11.

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.