F5 (FFIV) Down 5.1% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Rebound?

It has been about a month since the last earnings report for F5 Networks (FFIV). Shares have lost about 5.1% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.

But investors have to be wondering, will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is F5 due for a breakout? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.

F5 Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates

F5 delivered better-than-expected third-quarter fiscal 2026 results. The company reported third-quarter fiscal 2026 non-GAAP earnings of $4.73 per share, which increased 14% year over year. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 18.8%.

Revenues increased 11% year over year to $865 million and beat the consensus mark by 3.96%. Results benefited from 32% systems revenue growth, sustained hybrid multicloud demand and growing application security requirements. Product revenues advanced 19%, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.

FFIV's Q3 Segment Revenue Details

Product revenues, representing 54% of total revenues, increased 19% year over year to $463 million. Systems revenues jumped 32% to $240 million as customers invested in higher-performance infrastructure, expanded data-center capacity and modernized environments for resiliency, digital sovereignty and AI workloads.

Software revenues rose 7% to $223 million. Subscription-based software revenues increased 9% to $201 million and represented 90% of software revenues. Perpetual license revenues declined 4% to $22 million. Services revenues, accounting for 46% of total revenues, grew 3% to $402 million.

F5 Benefits From Hybrid Multicloud Demand

Management highlighted expansion opportunities tied to hybrid multicloud adoption, including competitive displacements, platform consolidation and data-center buildouts. An energy and utilities provider expanded its BIG-IP footprint after moving workloads from an unstable cloud environment back to on-premises infrastructure.

F5 also secured a competitive win at a Fortune 100 technology provider seeking to strengthen delivery and security for a storage service spanning 45 data centers. The customer selected BIG-IP to support the availability, resilience and security requirements of AI and data-intensive workloads.

F5 Maintains Solid Margins and Cash Flow

Non-GAAP gross margin expanded 110 basis points year over year to 84.2%, while non-GAAP operating margin increased 70 basis points to 35%.
In the third quarter of fiscal 2026, FFIV generated $316 million in operating cash flow and $281 million in free cash flow.

Cash and investments totaled $1.63 billion, up from $1.44 billion in the previous quarter. The company repurchased $100 million of shares and had $422 million remaining under its authorization.

FFIV Raises Fiscal 2026 Outlook

F5 expects fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 revenues between $870 million and $890 million, implying growth of nearly 9% at the midpoint. Non-GAAP earnings are projected in the range of $4.14-$4.26 per share. Non-GAAP gross margin is expected between 83% and 84%, reflecting a favorable mix of higher-performance systems and lower component-cost increases than initially anticipated.

For fiscal 2026, management raised its revenue growth forecast to approximately 9-10% from 7-8%. The company continues to expect mid-single-digit software growth, double-digit systems growth and low-single-digit services growth. Non-GAAP earnings guidance was increased to $17.21-$17.33 per share from $16.25-$16.55.

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

In the past month, investors have witnessed a upward trend in estimates revision.

VGM Scores

Currently, F5 has a nice Growth Score of B, a score with the same score on the momentum front. However, the stock was allocated a grade of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of C. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

Outlook

Estimates have been trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions looks promising. Interestingly, F5 has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.

Performance of an Industry Player

F5 is part of the Zacks Internet - Software industry. Over the past month, Calix (CALX), a stock from the same industry, has gained 7.4%. The company reported its results for the quarter ended June 2026 more than a month ago.

Calix reported revenues of $293.33 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +21.3%. EPS of $0.47 for the same period compares with $0.33 a year ago.

For the current quarter, Calix is expected to post earnings of $0.42 per share, indicating a change of -4.6% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

The overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions translate into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Calix. Also, the stock has a VGM Score of C.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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