F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Issues Q2 2026 Earnings Guidance

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) issued an update on its second quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 3.340-3.460 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 3.050. The company issued revenue guidance of $770.0 million-$790.0 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $747.8 million. F5 also updated its FY 2026 guidance to 15.650-16.050 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFIV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered F5 from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of F5 from $321.00 to $267.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Zacks Research upgraded F5 from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.78.

F5 Stock Performance

FFIV stock opened at $270.43 on Wednesday. F5 has a one year low of $223.76 and a one year high of $346.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $256.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $286.88. The firm has a market cap of $15.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 8.39 and a beta of 0.98.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The network technology company reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.84 earnings per share. F5 has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.340-3.460 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 15.650-16.050 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that F5 will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at F5

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 8,318 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.78, for a total value of $2,077,670.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,493 shares in the company, valued at $5,618,301.54. This trade represents a 27.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 150,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,625,047.77. This represents a 0.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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.

F5 News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results materially beat expectations: revenue of roughly $822M and EPS around $4.45 topped consensus on both top and bottom lines, showing mid-single-digit revenue growth and stronger margins — the core reason for the rally. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised FY26 and Q2 guidance well above Street consensus (FY EPS guide ~15.65–16.05 vs. ~13.81 consensus; Q2 EPS guide ~3.34–3.46 and revenue guidance also lifted), signaling confidence in demand and margin execution. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial drivers cited on the call and in coverage: accelerating adoption of application-security, AI-related traffic management, and hybrid/multi-cloud deployments — structural demand that supports higher revenue and the upgraded guidance. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market reaction: reports show the stock rallied sharply in extended trading after the report, reflecting the beats and guidance — useful context for intraday positioning but not a fundamental change by itself. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation / investor debate: analysts and outlets are re-checking fair value given the new guidance and secular AI/multi-cloud tailwinds—watch forward multiples and the PEG ratio as the Street updates models. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Full disclosure and color are available in the earnings-call transcript and slide deck for modeling assumptions and segment-level detail. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal overhang: multiple law firms have filed or are soliciting lead plaintiff applications in securities class actions related to an August 2025 cybersecurity incident and alleged disclosure shortfalls — this litigation risk could pressure the stock and create settlement/defense costs down the line. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple firms (Hagens Berman, Rosen, Pomerantz, others) are publicizing investigations and deadlines — even if earnings momentum is strong, legal uncertainty increases downside risk and could affect guidance credibility or require reserve adjustments. Read More.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FFIV. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec boosted its position in F5 by 169.2% in the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 462,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $149,553,000 after buying an additional 290,828 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc lifted its stake in F5 by 293.3% during the 3rd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 149,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $48,303,000 after acquiring an additional 111,461 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 223.2% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 140,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $41,366,000 after acquiring an additional 97,057 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,315,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 38.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 298,297 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,428,000 after purchasing an additional 82,835 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.