F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Releases Q1 Earnings Guidance

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) updated its first quarter earnings guidance on Monday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $3.29-$3.41 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35. The company issued revenue guidance of $705-$725 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $705.94 million. F5 also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 14.040-14.310 EPS.

F5 Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of FFIV stock traded down $3.44 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $236.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 219,196 shares, compared to its average volume of 530,201. F5 has a one year low of $149.40 and a one year high of $250.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $212.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.96. The company has a market cap of $13.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. F5 had a net margin of 19.94% and a return on equity of 21.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that F5 will post 10.17 EPS for the current year.

F5 declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFIV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.71, for a total value of $163,996.21. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,083,360. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $273,107.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,359,543.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.71, for a total value of $163,996.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,083,360. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,551 shares of company stock worth $1,334,698 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.