Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Updates Q3 2026 Earnings Guidance

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) updated its third quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 1.060-1.080 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 0.890. The company issued revenue guidance of $3.3 billion-$3.3 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.9 billion.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ANET. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price (up from $178.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Zacks Research cut shares of Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $187.00 price target (up from $177.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (up from $180.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $189.74.

Arista Networks Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of NYSE:ANET traded up $6.32 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $191.21. 13,868,652 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,614,390. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.69. Arista Networks has a 1-year low of $114.52 and a 1-year high of $194.35. The firm has a market cap of $240.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.60.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.10% and a net margin of 38.32%.The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Arista Networks will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 260,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.57, for a total transaction of $43,048,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 182,543,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,223,652,457.36. This trade represents a 0.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.08, for a total transaction of $4,482,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,678.08. This represents a 71.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,300,316 shares of company stock worth $382,160,575. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Arista Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 earnings and revenue beat estimates. Arista reported adjusted EPS of $1.02, versus the $0.89 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $3.04 billion, exceeding expectations of $2.83 billion. The quarter marked the company’s first $3 billion revenue quarter. Arista Networks Reports Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter guidance significantly exceeded expectations. Arista projected EPS of $1.06–$1.08 and revenue of approximately $3.3 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $0.89 EPS and $2.9 billion in revenue. The forecast suggests continued strong demand and momentum into the second half of 2026.
• Positive Sentiment: Investors responded favorably to the results. The earnings beat and upbeat outlook pushed the stock toward new all-time highs after hours, signaling that the market views Arista’s “Arista 2.0” platform strategy and exposure to AI infrastructure as important growth drivers. Why Arista Networks Stock is Hitting New All-Time Highs After Hours
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation remains an important consideration. With Arista trading near its 52-week high and at a reported P/E ratio above 65, the stock’s strong performance appears to incorporate substantial future growth. Any slowdown in AI and data-center spending or failure to sustain elevated expectations could increase volatility.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in Arista Networks by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 2,973 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Arista Networks by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 566,039 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $74,168,000 after purchasing an additional 145,898 shares during the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $119,000. Blue Sparrow LLC DE acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,651,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 404,775 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $51,300,000 after buying an additional 93,794 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista’s offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista’s product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company’s hardware platforms.