Zacks Research Has Positive Outlook for F5 FY2026 Earnings

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) - Analysts at Zacks Research raised their FY2026 earnings estimates for F5 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, November 20th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the network technology company will earn $11.47 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $11.45. The consensus estimate for F5's current full-year earnings is $11.01 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for F5's Q4 2026 earnings at $3.12 EPS.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The firm's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised F5 from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $233.56.

F5 Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $2.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $246.98. 346,233 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 532,181. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $225.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.17. F5 has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $250.46. The company has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.05.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the first quarter valued at about $274,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in F5 by 424.1% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,604 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,442,000 after purchasing an additional 6,153 shares during the period. Natixis lifted its position in shares of F5 by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 6,852 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,299,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 1st quarter valued at $1,415,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of F5 by 1.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 80,292 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $15,224,000 after buying an additional 811 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total transaction of $130,602.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,825 shares in the company, valued at $6,492,007.75. This represents a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total transaction of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 8.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,575 shares of company stock worth $997,039. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

F5 announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

F5 Company Profile

F5, Inc provides multi-cloud application security and delivery solutions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. The company's distributed cloud services enable its customers to deploy, secure, and operate applications in any architecture, from on-premises to the public cloud.