Zacks Research Issues Pessimistic Outlook for F5 Earnings

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research decreased their Q4 2027 earnings per share estimates for shares of F5 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research analyst Team now expects that the network technology company will post earnings per share of $3.49 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $3.50. Zacks Research currently has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for F5’s current full-year earnings is $11.20 per share.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of F5 from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $315.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Evercore ISI restated a “cautious” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Bank of America lowered their target price on F5 from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $294.22.

F5 Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of FFIV stock opened at $269.81 on Wednesday. F5 has a fifty-two week low of $223.76 and a fifty-two week high of $346.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $250.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $289.16. The stock has a market cap of $15.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.62 and a beta of 0.98.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The network technology company reported $4.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.43. F5 had a return on equity of 21.76% and a net margin of 22.42%.The business had revenue of $810.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. F5 has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.500-15.500 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 3.350-3.850 EPS.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,625,047.77. The trade was a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.11, for a total value of $310,376.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,041,517.10. This trade represents a 13.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 31,595 shares of company stock worth $7,858,505 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MGO One Seven LLC raised its stake in F5 by 0.8% during the second quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 4,927 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,450,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 7,386 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,387,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,834 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in F5 by 0.5% during the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 9,849 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: F5 advanced NGINXaaS for Google Cloud, highlighting product/partner momentum in cloud‑native app delivery and security — a revenue/market‑share positive if adoption follows. F5 NGINXaaS for Google Cloud Advances Cloud-Native Application Delivery and Security
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks Research trimmed its Q4 2027 EPS estimate for F5 very slightly (from $3.50 to $3.49) and retains a “Hold” view; consensus full‑year EPS remains near $11.20 — a marginal analyst move unlikely to drive a large price swing on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data in the filings is unclear/ambiguous (shows 0 shares / NaN change), so there’s no clear signal from short sellers in these entries.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms and notices have surfaced reminding investors of a securities class action related to F5’s disclosed “material cybersecurity incident” (class period Oct 28, 2024–Oct 27, 2025) and the company’s statements about adverse financial impact — this increases litigation risk and potential future costs or settlements. F5, Inc. Sued for Securities Law Violations – DJS Law Group
• Negative Sentiment: Firms including Hagens Berman, Kahn Swick & Foti, Rosen, Kirby McInerney, Bernstein Liebhard and others have posted notices/alerts and are soliciting lead‑plaintiff applicants — many reminders cite the cybersecurity incident and disclose Feb 17, 2026 deadlines for lead plaintiff applications, keeping legal pressure visible. Hagens Berman: Cybersecurity Incident-Related Securities Class Action Pending

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.