F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $270.43, but opened at $298.50. F5 shares last traded at $288.4560, with a volume of 1,307,878 shares trading hands.

The network technology company reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.82. The firm had revenue of $822.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $755.97 million. F5 had a net margin of 22.45% and a return on equity of 22.08%. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.84 EPS. F5 has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.340-3.460 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 15.650-16.050 EPS.

More F5 News

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results and guidance: F5 reported stronger-than-expected Q1 results (EPS and revenue beat) and raised Q2 and FY26 EPS guidance, which drove earlier upside and supports the revenue/AI momentum narrative. Q1 Results / Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upside: RBC Capital raised its price target to $345 (outperform), and other firms raised targets or reiterated coverage after the results — these upgrades add upside conviction for some investors. RBC PT Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgrade: Zacks moved FFIV to a #1 (Strong Buy), reinforcing post‑earnings optimism among some retail/quant investors. Zacks Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Modest analyst caution: Barclays raised its target slightly but kept an equal‑weight rating, and some analysts highlight valuation/operational risks despite the beat. Barclays Note
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling: An F5 EVP sold several thousand shares in January (Form 4 filed). Routine liquidity vs. signal debate — monitored by investors. SEC Form 4
• Neutral Sentiment: Street commentary: Post‑earnings writeups highlight strong systems/product demand and AI/regulatory tailwinds but flag margin pressure and competitive risks — mixed implications for near‑term flows. Seeking Alpha Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Legal overhang: Numerous law firms (Hagens Berman, Rosen, Robbins Geller, others) have issued investor notices and are soliciting plaintiffs in securities‑class actions tied to an alleged F5 security incident; the approaching Feb. 17 lead‑plaintiff deadline creates tangible litigation and reputational risk that can pressure the stock. Hagens Berman Alert Rosen Notice

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FFIV shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 price target (up from $295.00) on shares of F5 in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of F5 from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of F5 from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Evercore ISI restated a “cautious” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of F5 from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 8,318 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.78, for a total transaction of $2,077,670.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,618,301.54. The trade was a 27.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.99, for a total value of $308,087.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 150,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,625,047.77. The trade was a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 37,158 shares of company stock worth $9,319,717 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of F5

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in F5 during the second quarter worth about $207,492,000. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of F5 by 141.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,023,869 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $261,353,000 after buying an additional 599,384 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 17,181.1% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 309,158 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $78,916,000 after buying an additional 307,369 shares during the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 290,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of F5 by 422.7% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 347,125 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $112,187,000 after acquiring an additional 280,719 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

F5 Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $258.75 and a 200 day moving average of $286.89.

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.