Stocks · Technology · Software - Infrastructure
F5, Inc. FFIV
$454.04 +2.34% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $25.62B
High qualityStrong trendLow risk
Next earnings report: Oct 26, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 14 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +15.9%).
- The shares trade at 36.2× trailing earnings, higher than 86% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 129 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Technology sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 42%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 46%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 32%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 45%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 40%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 17%
- Gross marginTop 7%
- Operating marginTop 12%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 38%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 39%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 26%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 30%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 43%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 42%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 32%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 22%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 37%
- 6-month returnTop 30%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 34%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 5%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 18%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 32%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 9%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 19%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 9%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 12%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 6%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 13%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 26%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 9.7% | 9.4% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 15.7% | 10.6% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 81.0% | 82.2% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 24.8% | 24.5% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 31.6% | 29.3% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 9.4% | 9.7% | ↓ | Bottom 42% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 10.6% | 15.7% | ↓ | Bottom 46% |
| Gross margin | 82.2% | 81.0% | ↑ | Top 7% |
| Operating margin | 24.5% | 24.8% | ↓ | Top 12% |
| Net margin | 22.0% | 22.1% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 29.3% | 31.6% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 13.6% | — | Top 17% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 4.6% | — | Bottom 45% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.44×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -4.7%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 7.6%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +14.0 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -1.40×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 2.21%
- Shareholder yield
- 2.21%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -1.4%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -1.5%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 14
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +15.9%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.7%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 6 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $416.60
- Target vs current price
- -8.2%
- Analysts with a rating
- 61
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 41%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 27, 2026 | +18.3% | +4.0% | +2.6% | -1.9% | — |
| Apr 28, 2026 | +12.7% | +2.0% | +10.8% | +33.3% | +30.4% |
| Jan 27, 2026 | +22.3% | +1.1% | +5.0% | +1.7% | +16.4% |
| Oct 27, 2025 | +10.6% | -2.7% | -15.2% | -21.5% | -12.2% |
| Jul 30, 2025 | +18.5% | -0.1% | +6.5% | +5.5% | -0.5% |
| Apr 28, 2025 | +10.3% | -1.8% | -0.5% | +4.5% | +11.3% |
| Jan 28, 2025 | +14.3% | +2.6% | +12.2% | +11.4% | -0.2% |
| Oct 28, 2024 | +6.4% | +0.7% | +7.1% | +13.9% | +25.9% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 27, 2026 | $4.73 | $4.00 | +18.3% | $865.1M |
| Apr 28, 2026 | $3.90 | $3.46 | +12.7% | $811.7M |
| Jan 27, 2026 | $4.45 | $3.64 | +22.3% | $822.5M |
| Oct 27, 2025 | $4.39 | $3.97 | +10.6% | $810.1M |
| Jul 30, 2025 | $4.16 | $3.51 | +18.5% | $780.4M |
| Apr 28, 2025 | $3.42 | $3.10 | +10.3% | $731.1M |
| Jan 28, 2025 | $3.84 | $3.36 | +14.3% | $766.5M |
| Oct 28, 2024 | $3.67 | $3.45 | +6.4% | $746.7M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 36.2× | 28.3× | 86th | Top 30% |
| P/E (forward) | 26.2× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 25.2× | — | — | Top 42% |
| EV / Sales | 7.33× | — | — | Bottom 32% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 3.79% | — | — | Top 43% |
| Earnings yield | 2.76% | — | — | Top 30% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 20.2× – 43.8× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +38.7%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +10.6%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +16.3%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 16
- Days above the 200-day average
- 129
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.7%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +5.7%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +10.4%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +31.6%
- RSI (14)
- 64.2
- Relative volume
- 1.16×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 36.4%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 79th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.80
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.41
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -0.4%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -34.7%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 29, 2021 | Apr 25, 2023 | -47.4% | 331 days | 400 days (Nov 25, 2024) |
| Oct 14, 2025 | Nov 19, 2025 | -34.7% | 26 days | 115 days (May 7, 2026) |
| Feb 12, 2025 | Apr 4, 2025 | -23.0% | 36 days | 80 days (Jul 31, 2025) |
| Apr 6, 2021 | May 12, 2021 | -18.8% | 26 days | 117 days (Oct 27, 2021) |
| Jul 14, 2026 | Aug 20, 2026 | -12.4% | 27 days | 19 days (Sep 17, 2026) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $25.62B
- P/E (TTM)
- 36.2
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $12.55
- Revenue (TTM)
- $3.31B
- 52-week range
- $223.76 – $462.00
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.60B | $2.70B | $2.81B | $2.82B | $3.09B |
| Gross profit | $2.11B | $2.16B | $2.22B | $2.26B | $2.51B |
| Operating income | $394.0M | $403.8M | $472.6M | $658.6M | $765.9M |
| Net income | $331.2M | $322.2M | $394.9M | $566.8M | $692.4M |
| EPS (diluted) | $5.34 | $5.27 | $6.55 | $9.55 | $11.80 |
| Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $746.7M | $766.5M | $731.1M | $780.4M | $810.1M | $822.5M | $811.7M | $865.1M |
| Net income | $165.3M | $166.4M | $145.5M | $189.9M | $190.5M | $180.1M | $147.8M | $208.2M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.80 | $2.82 | $2.48 | $3.25 | $3.26 | $3.10 | $2.58 | $3.61 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $645.2M | $442.6M | $653.4M | $792.4M | $949.7M |
| Capital expenditure | -$30.7M | -$33.6M | -$54.2M | -$30.4M | -$43.3M |
| Free cash flow | $614.5M | $409.0M | $599.2M | $762.0M | $906.4M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$500.0M | -$500.0M | -$350.0M | -$445.5M | -$466.9M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $1.61B
- Total assets
- $6.83B
- Total liabilities
- $2.97B
- Total debt
- $252.4M
- Net debt
- -$1.35B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $3.86B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 1,350,380
- Days to cover
- 2.95
- Change vs previous report
- -13.8%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Aug 21, 2007
- 2-for-1