FFIV

The past six months have been a windfall for F5’s shareholders. The company’s stock price has jumped 59.6%, setting a new 52-week high of $430.57 per share. This was partly thanks to its solid quarterly results, and the run-up might have investors contemplating their next move. Is now the time to buy F5, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Dive into our full research report to see our analyst team’s opinion, it’s free. We’re happy investors have made money, but we’re cautious about F5. Here are three reasons why there are better opportunities than FFIV, plus one stock we’d rather own. While reported revenue for a software company can include low-margin items like implementation fees, annual recurring revenue (ARR) is a sum of the next 12 months of contracted revenue purely from software subscriptions, or the high-margin, predictable revenue streams that make SaaS businesses so valuable. F5’s ARR came in at $195 million in Q1, and over the last four quarters, its year-on-year growth averaged 3.3%. This performance was underwhelming and suggests that increasing competition is causing challenges in securing longer-term commitments. Forecasted revenues by Wall Street analysts signal a company’s potential. Predictions may not always be accurate, but accelerating growth typically boosts valuation multiples and stock prices while slowing growth does the opposite. Over the next 12 months, sell-side analysts expect F5’s revenue to rise by 5.8%, a slight deceleration versus its 5.4% annualized growth for the past five years. This projection doesn’t excite us and suggests its products and services will see some demand headwinds. While many software businesses point investors to their adjusted profits, which exclude stock-based compensation (SBC), we prefer GAAP operating margin because SBC is a legitimate expense used to attract and retain talent. This is one of the best measures of profitability because it shows how much money a company takes home after developing, marketing, and selling its products. Looking at the trend in its profitability, F5’s operating margin might have fluctuated slightly but has generally stayed the same over the last two years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability. I...

Never miss an important update on your stock portfolio and cut through the noise. Over 7 million investors trust Simply Wall St to stay informed where it matters for FREE. F5 stock has delivered a strong 180.5% return over the past three years, yet its valuation checks are sending mixed signals, with the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) intrinsic value estimate indicating the shares may trade below intrinsic value while market multiples point the other way. Over three years, F5 has returned 180.5%, which puts extra attention on whether recent gains already reflect the company’s long term cash flow potential. Recent earnings strength and the partnership with Equinix can support expectations for future cash generation, but execution risk around scaling AI related offerings and security solutions may affect how much of that cash ultimately reaches shareholders. F5 currently scores 2 out of 6 on Simply Wall St’s broader valuation checks. This means the stock does not screen as a clear bargain across most metrics even though some models point to undervaluation. You can review the breakdown by visiting 2 out of 6 checks. The issue now is whether the 13.0% discount suggested by the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) intrinsic value estimate is enough to offset the signals from richer market multiples and a low overall value score for F5. Find out why F5's 37.9% return over the last year is lagging behind its peers. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model takes F5’s projected future cash flows and discounts them back to today’s dollars. For F5, the latest twelve month free cash flow is about $967.8 million, and the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity model uses a growing cash flow profile to estimate what those dollars could be worth to shareholders over time. On this basis, the DCF model points to an intrinsic value of about $480 per share, which implies the stock trades at roughly a 13.0% discount and therefore appears undervalued relative to its cash generation. Because F5’s recent Q1 earnings beat and higher full year guidance have already been acknowledged by the market, the remaining discount suggests investors are still applying some caution to how durable those cash flows will be. Putting it together, the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) work indicates that F5 currently looks undervalued relative to the cash it is projected to produce. Our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis suggests...

SEATTLE, July 07, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--F5, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in delivering and securing every app and API, announced it will report its third quarter fiscal year 2026 financial results on Monday, July 27, 2026, following the market close. F5 will host a live webcast to discuss its results with investors and analysts beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET on July 27, 2026. The live webcast link can be accessed from the events & presentations page of the investor relations portion of f5.com. Interested listeners may also access the audio-only version of the live webcast by dialing +1 (888) 596-4144 for callers in the U.S., +1 (646) 968-2525 for callers in other countries. Use Conference ID 6076834 to access. The webcast will be recorded, and replays will be available as follows: Replay Via Webcast: Access via the investor relations portion of F5’s website. Replay Via Phone: +1 (800) 770-2030 (U.S. and Canada) or +1 (609) 800-9909 (outside of the U.S.) available July 27, 2026, through July 28, 2026. Use Playback ID 6076834# to access. About F5 F5, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) is the global leader that delivers and secures every app. Backed by three decades of expertise, F5 has built the industry’s premier platform—F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP)—to deliver and secure every app, every API, anywhere: on-premises, in the cloud, at the edge, and across hybrid, multicloud environments. F5 is committed to innovating and partnering with the world’s largest and most advanced organizations to deliver fast, available, and secure digital experiences. Together, we help each other thrive and bring a better digital world to life. For more information visit f5.com Explore F5 Labs threat research at f5.com/labs Follow to learn more about F5, our partners, and technologies: Blog | LinkedIn | X | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook F5 is a trademark, service mark, or tradename of F5, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. SOURCE: F5, Inc. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260707976985/en/ Contacts Media Rob Gruening(206) [email protected] Investors Suzanne [email protected] (206) 272-7049

Seattle, Washington-based F5, Inc. (FFIV) provides multicloud application security and delivery solutions in the United States and internationally. The company has a market cap of $23 billion and offers cloud services that enable its customers to deploy, secure, and operate applications in any architecture, from on-premises to the public cloud. FFIV is expected to release its Q3 2026 earnings soon. Ahead of the event, analysts expect the company’s EPS to be $3.04 on a diluted basis, down 11.1% from $3.42 in the year-ago quarter. The company has exceeded Wall Street’s EPS estimates in each of its last four quarters. SanDisk Slumps 10% But BofA Stays Bullish. Here Is How to Play SanDisk Stock Here. Dear SpaceX Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for July 7 1 High-Probability Iron Condor Trade on Broadcom Stock to Make Now with 29% Return Potential Tired of missing midday reversals? The FREE Barchart Brief newsletter keeps you in the know. Sign up now! For fiscal 2026, analysts project the company’s EPS to be $12.78, up 7.7% from $11.87 in fiscal 2025. Moreover, its EPS is expected to rise by roughly 5.3% year over year (YoY) to $13.46 in fiscal 2027. FFIV’s stock has grown 37.8% over the past 52 weeks, outperforming the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 20.7% rise but lagging behind the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF’s (XLK) 42.4% return during the same time frame. On Apr. 29, FFIV stock rose 8% following the release of its Q2 2026 earnings. The company’s revenue for the quarter amounted to $811.7 million, surpassing the Street’s forecasts. Moreover, its adjusted EPS came in at $3.90, also topping Wall Street’s estimates. F5 expects full-year earnings in the range of $16.25 to $16.55 per share, with its current quarter revenue being expected in the range of $820 million to $840 million. Analysts are moderately bullish on FFIV, with the stock currently rated “Moderate Buy” overall. Among the 13 analysts covering the stock, five are recommending a “Strong Buy,” one suggests a “Moderate Buy,” six suggest a “Hold,” and one recommends a “Moderate Buy.” FFIV’s average analyst price target is $417.80, indicating an upside of 2.4% from the current levels. On the date of publication, Aritra Gangopadhyay did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for infor...

The end of the earnings season is always a good time to take a step back and see who shined (and who didn’t). Let’s take a look at how content delivery stocks fared in Q1, starting with F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV). The amount of content on the internet is exploding, whether it is music, movies and or e-commerce stores. Consumer demand for this content creates network congestion, much like a digital traffic jam which drives demand for specialized content delivery networks (CDN) services that alleviate potential network bottlenecks. The 4 content delivery stocks we track reported a strong Q1. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 1.8% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line. While some content delivery stocks have fared somewhat better than others, they have collectively declined. On average, share prices are down 1.7% since the latest earnings results. Originally named after the F5 tornado, the most powerful on the meteorological scale, F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) provides security and delivery solutions that protect applications across cloud, data center, and edge environments for large organizations. F5 reported revenues of $811.7 million, up 11% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 3.7%. Overall, it was an exceptional quarter for the company with a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates and full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations. “Our second quarter revenue of $812 million grew 11% year over year, driven by 22% product revenue growth—our seventh straight quarter of double-digit product growth,” said François Locoh-Donou, F5’s Chairman, President, and CEO. F5 pulled off the biggest analyst estimate beat and highest guidance raise of the whole group. Unsurprisingly, the stock is up 38.3% since reporting and currently trades at $420.00. Is now the time to buy F5? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free. With a massive network spanning more than 310 cities in over 120 countries, Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) provides a global network that delivers security, performance and reliability services to protect websites, applications, and corporate networks. Cloudflare reported revenues of $639.8 million, up 33.5% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 3%. The business had a very strong quarter with an impressive beat of analysts’ billings estimates and full-year EPS guidance exceedi...

It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Astera Labs, Inc. (ALAB). Shares have added about 70% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500. Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Astera Labs, Inc. due for a pullback? Well, first let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent catalysts for Astera Labs, Inc. before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late. Astera Labs reported first-quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings of 61 cents per share, up 84.8% year over year. The results beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 13.66%.Revenues totaled $308 million, up 93.4% from the year-ago quarter and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.42%. Results reflected robust demand tied to the company’s PCIe 6 connectivity portfolios, which contributed more than one-third of total revenue in the quarter. ALAB’s top line increased 14% sequentially, supported by strength across signal conditioning and switch fabric offerings that enable both scale-up and scale-out connectivity in AI platforms. Management highlighted continued diversification, with multiple customers and product categories contributing to growth.PCIe Gen 6 momentum remained a central theme. The company noted it has shipped millions of PCIe Gen 6 ports to date, underscoring both portfolio maturity and the pace of adoption as AI infrastructure transitions to higher-speed interconnect standards. Astera Labs emphasized progress in its Scorpio family, with Scorpio X-Series products beginning to ship in initial production volumes during the quarter. Management expects Scorpio X-Series shipments to rise in the second quarter, alongside initial shipments of the newly announced 320-lane Scorpio X device, before ramping up to full volume production in the second half of 2026.The company also expanded the Scorpio P-Series PCIe 6 switch family to span 32 to 320 lanes. Leadership positioned the broader Scorpio portfolio as a platform for higher-value AI fabric deployments, citing features such as Hypercast and in-network compute aimed at improving collective operations and reducing networking overhead in large-scale training and inference workloads. Non-GAAP gross margin was 76.4% in the first quarter, expanding 150 basis points year over year, primarily due to a lower mix of har...

It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR). Shares have added about 12% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500. Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Palantir Technologies due for a pullback? Well, first let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent catalysts for Palantir Technologies Inc. before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late. Palantir Technologies' first-quarter 2026 revenues of $1.63 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6%, reflecting a sharp 85% year-over-year increase. Growth was broad-based, with commercial revenue reaching $774 million and government revenue at $858 million. The standout was the U.S. business, which now contributes 79% of total revenues and surged 104% year over year, highlighting intense domestic demand for AI-driven solutions. The company also reported $2.4 billion in total contract value bookings during the quarter, indicating strong deal momentum and reinforcing visibility into future revenue streams. Profitability remained a defining feature of the quarter. Palantir posted an adjusted gross margin of 88%, reflecting the scalability of its platform model. Adjusted operating income came in at $984 million, translating into a 60% adjusted operating margin. Adjusted earnings per share reached 33 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 13.8%, showing 154% improvement from the prior year. The company’s Rule of 40 score rose to 145%, underlining a rare combination of high growth and strong profitability. Cash flow generation was equally solid, with $899 million in operating cash flow and $925 million in adjusted free cash flow, demonstrating efficient conversion of revenue into cash. Customer engagement metrics reinforced the strength of Palantir’s platform. The company ended the quarter with 1,007 customers, while net dollar retention stood at an impressive 150%, indicating significant expansion within the existing client base. Forward-looking indicators remained strong, with total remaining deal value at $11.8 billion and remaining performance obligations at $4.5 billion. These figures suggest sustained demand and long-term revenue visibility as customers increasingly embed Palantir’s solutions into their operations. Palant...

A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Automatic Data Processing (ADP). Shares have added about 3.7% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500. Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is ADP due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts. Automatic Data Processing posted third-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings per share of $3.37, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.28 by 2.7%. The metric increased 10.1% from the year-ago quarter. Total revenues came in at $5.94 billion, topping the consensus mark of $5.86 billion by 1.4% and rising 7% year over year. Operationally, Employer Services client revenue retention and overall client satisfaction reached record highs for the third quarter. ADP’s revenue performance reflected gains across its two operating segments. Employer Services revenues increased 7% year over year to $4.04 billion, whereas PEO Services revenues rose 7% to $1.91 billion. Client funds tailwinds also remained supportive. Interest on funds held for clients increased 14% year over year to $403.9 million, driven by average client funds balances that rose 9% to $48.3 billion and an average yield of 3.3%, up 10 basis points. Employer Services continued to be a key growth engine in the quarter. Management cited solid business booking growth, while retention and client satisfaction set record highs for the third quarter. Profitability improved meaningfully in the segment. Employer Services’ margin expanded 130 basis points year over year, with ADP pointing to operational productivity improvements alongside growth in client funds interest revenues as notable contributors. PEO Services turned in another quarter of revenue expansion, but profitability moved the other way. Segment margin declined 120 basis points year over year, reflecting a combination of business mix and cost items within the segment. ADP noted that zero-margin benefits pass-through growth was a key factor behind the margin pressure. Higher state unemployment insurance costs and higher selling expenses also contributed. On an operating metric basis, average worksite employees increased 2% year over year to about 762,000. ADP converted its revenue growth...

A month has gone by since the last earnings report for F5 Networks (FFIV). Shares have added about 18.3% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500. But investors have to be wondering, will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is F5 due for a pullback? Well, first let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent drivers for F5, Inc. before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late. F5 delivered better-than-expected second-quarter fiscal 2026 results. FFIV reported second-quarter non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of $3.90, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.44%. The bottom line increased 14% year over year. F5’s revenues of $812 million for the second quarter beat the consensus mark by 3.49%. The top line rose 11% on a year-over-year basis. Product revenues (50.6% of total revenue) climbed 22% year over year to $411 million, supported by continued strength in Systems. Systems revenues increased 26% to $226 million, reflecting customers upgrading to higher-performance and higher-capacity platforms as they modernize data centers for resiliency, sovereignty requirements and AI readiness. Our model estimates for the Product segment and Systems sub-segment revenues were pegged at $381.1 million and $199.6 million, respectively. Management characterized the cycle as “refresh plus,” where refresh activity also becomes a moment to attach new use cases and expand wallet share. On the earnings call, the company cited instances where customers broadened projects beyond replacements into AI-related deployments and pointed to increased competitive displacement as enterprises consolidate around fewer, more capable platforms. Software revenues grew 17% to $184 million, with subscriptions remaining the dominant contributor. Subscription-based software revenues totaled $165 million, representing 90% of software revenues, while perpetual license software was $19 million. Our model estimates for Software revenues were pegged at $181.5 million. While Systems has been the faster-growing piece recently, the company emphasized that software performance is largely shaped by subscription renewals and expansion within the installed base. On the call, management reiterated that software growth can look uneven quarter to quarter due to the renewal cy...

Shareholders appeared to be happy with F5, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:FFIV) solid earnings report last week. Looking deeper at the numbers, we found several encouraging factors beyond the headline profit numbers. We've found 21 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free. One key financial ratio used to measure how well a company converts its profit to free cash flow (FCF) is the accrual ratio. To get the accrual ratio we first subtract FCF from profit for a period, and then divide that number by the average operating assets for the period. The ratio shows us how much a company's profit exceeds its FCF. That means a negative accrual ratio is a good thing, because it shows that the company is bringing in more free cash flow than its profit would suggest. While it's not a problem to have a positive accrual ratio, indicating a certain level of non-cash profits, a high accrual ratio is arguably a bad thing, because it indicates paper profits are not matched by cash flow. That's because some academic studies have suggested that high accruals ratios tend to lead to lower profit or less profit growth. For the year to March 2026, F5 had an accrual ratio of -0.12. That implies it has good cash conversion, and implies that its free cash flow solidly exceeded its profit last year. Indeed, in the last twelve months it reported free cash flow of US$963m, well over the US$708.2m it reported in profit. F5's free cash flow improved over the last year, which is generally good to see. That might leave you wondering what analysts are forecasting in terms of future profitability. Luckily, you can click here to see an interactive graph depicting future profitability, based on their estimates. F5's accrual ratio is solid, and indicates strong free cash flow, as we discussed, above. Because of this, we think F5's earnings potential is at least as good as it seems, and maybe even better! And on top of that, its earnings per share have grown at an extremely impressive rate over the last three years. Of course, we've only just scratched the surface when it comes to analysing its earnings; one could also consider margins, forecast growth, and return on investment, among other factors. So while earnings quality is important, it's equally important to consider the risks facing F5 at this point in time. You'd be interested to know, that we fou...

For the quarter ended March 2026, F5 Networks (FFIV) reported revenue of $811.7 million, up 11% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $3.90, compared to $3.42 in the year-ago quarter. The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $784.33 million, representing a surprise of +3.49%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of +12.44%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $3.47. While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health. As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately. Here is how F5 performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts: Net revenues- Services: $401.19 million versus the six-analyst average estimate of $402.75 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +1.8%. Net revenues- Products: $410.52 million versus the six-analyst average estimate of $381.6 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +21.7%. Net product revenues- Software: $184.13 million versus $177.11 million estimated by five analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +16.7% change. Net product revenues- Systems: $226.39 million versus $206.39 million estimated by five analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +26.2% change. View all Key Company Metrics for F5 here>>> Shares of F5 have returned +10% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +10.3% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), indicating that it could outperform the broader market in the near term. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report F5, Inc. (FFIV) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

As you might know, F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) just kicked off its latest quarterly results with some very strong numbers. The company beat expectations with revenues of US$812m arriving 3.8% ahead of forecasts. Statutory earnings per share (EPS) were US$2.58, 5.9% ahead of estimates. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year. AI is about to change healthcare. These 20 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10bn in marketcap - there is still time to get in early. Taking into account the latest results, the consensus forecast from F5's twelve analysts is for revenues of US$3.33b in 2026. This reflects a credible 3.2% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are forecast to drop 14% to US$11.75 in the same period. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$3.27b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$11.65 in 2026. So it's pretty clear that, although the analysts have updated their estimates, there's been no major change in expectations for the business following the latest results. Check out our latest analysis for F5 The consensus price target rose 8.4% to US$337despite there being no meaningful change to earnings estimates. It could be that the analystsare reflecting the predictability of F5's earnings by assigning a price premium. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. There are some variant perceptions on F5, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$375 and the most bearish at US$250 per share. Analysts definitely have varying views on the business, but the spread of estimates is not wide enough in our view to suggest that extreme outcomes could await F5 shareholders. Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. It's clear from the latest estimates that F5's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, wi...