Zacks Research Forecasts F5’s Q4 Earnings (NASDAQ:FFIV)

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) – Analysts at Zacks Research lifted their Q4 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of F5 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, December 24th. Zacks Research analyst Team now forecasts that the network technology company will post earnings of $3.28 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $3.27. Zacks Research has a “Strong Sell” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for F5’s current full-year earnings is $11.20 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for F5’s Q1 2027 earnings at $2.89 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $2.88 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $3.26 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $12.52 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on FFIV. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of F5 from $321.00 to $267.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on F5 from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on F5 from $320.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on F5 from $350.00 to $315.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $291.11.

F5 Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $263.14 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.28, a PEG ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $253.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.36. F5 has a 12-month low of $223.76 and a 12-month high of $346.00.

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

Institutional Trading of F5

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in F5 in the second quarter valued at about $207,492,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec increased its holdings in F5 by 169.2% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 462,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $149,553,000 after purchasing an additional 290,828 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of F5 by 422.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 347,125 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $112,187,000 after purchasing an additional 280,719 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 40.8% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 789,283 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $232,302,000 after buying an additional 228,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 37.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 828,900 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $216,757,000 after buying an additional 226,231 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other F5 news, 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 transaction of $310,376.99. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,610 shares in the company, valued at $2,041,517.10. The trade was a 13.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 8,318 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.78, for a total value of $2,077,670.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,618,301.54. The trade was a 27.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 30,685 shares of company stock valued at $7,693,345. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about F5

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks Research nudged up several near‑term and FY2027 EPS estimates for F5 (small increases to Q4 2026, Q1–Q3 2027 and FY2027 projections) but maintained a “Strong Sell” rating — a modest technical positive to guidance/earnings expectations, but not a consensus upgrade. Zacks Research note
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts have set expectations for F5’s upcoming quarter(s), providing a framework for market reaction to reported results — routine analyst guidance/preview coverage. Analysts Set Expectations for F5’s Q2 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms (Hagens Berman, Rosen, Robbins Geller, Faruqi & Faruqi, ClaimsFiler and others) are notifying investors about a securities class action (Smith v. F5, Inc.) alleging issues tied to a cybersecurity incident and disclosure timing; firms are soliciting lead‑plaintiff applications and reminders cite a Feb. 17, 2026 deadline and the class period Oct. 28, 2024–Oct. 27, 2025 — this increases litigation risk, potential legal costs and reputational uncertainty for F5. Hagens Berman PR
• Negative Sentiment: Faruqi & Faruqi issued an investor action reminder about the same litigation and the Feb. 17, 2026 lead‑plaintiff deadline — additional outreach that may prompt more claimant coordination and media attention. Faruqi & Faruqi notice
• Negative Sentiment: Rosen Law Firm and Robbins Geller also encourage investors to secure counsel and pursue lead‑plaintiff status, adding to the volume of litigation‑related filings and reminders in the market. Rosen Law Firm notice
• Negative Sentiment: ClaimsFiler issued a shareholder alert reminding investors with sizable losses about the lead‑plaintiff deadline — further sign that litigation activity will remain a near‑term headline risk. ClaimsFiler alert

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.