Stocks · Technology · Software - Infrastructure
NetScout Systems, Inc. NTCT
$40.96 +1.56% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $2.98B
High qualityInexpensive vs sectorLow risk
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 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
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $1.65, up 65.2% year over year.
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 5 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +26.2%).
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 288 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 30%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 25%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 35%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 24%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 42%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 43%
- Gross marginTop 13%
- Operating marginTop 25%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 33%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 50%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 15%
- Interest coverTop 8%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 23%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 17%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 20%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 38%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 35%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 24%
- 6-month returnTop 48%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 26%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 18%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 18%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 22%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 37%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 15%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 24%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 3%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 10%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 19%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 15%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 4.5% | 5.8% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 78.7% | 78.6% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 10.7% | 14.8% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 29.6% | 29.2% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 5.8% | 4.5% | ↑ | Bottom 30% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 65.2% | — | Top 25% | |
| Gross margin | 78.6% | 78.7% | ↓ | Top 13% |
| Operating margin | 14.8% | 10.7% | ↑ | Top 25% |
| Net margin | 13.7% | 8.7% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 29.2% | 29.6% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 5.9% | — | Top 43% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -2.0% | — | Bottom 24% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.25×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -6.5%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 6.6%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -19.1 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -2.59×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 76.1×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 2.92%
- Shareholder yield
- 2.92%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +4.0%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +1.4%
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
- 5
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +26.2%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +2.2%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 6 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $43.00
- Target vs current price
- +5.0%
- Analysts with a rating
- 21
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 38%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | +35.7% | -2.2% | -3.7% | -8.6% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | +13.0% | +7.8% | +10.9% | +18.8% | +15.3% |
| Feb 5, 2026 | +16.3% | -4.8% | -0.9% | +5.8% | +19.6% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | +39.9% | +7.1% | +3.3% | -1.2% | +3.8% |
| Aug 7, 2025 | +17.2% | -2.0% | +6.7% | +15.3% | +29.1% |
| May 8, 2025 | +0.0% | +1.7% | +6.8% | +9.5% | +1.6% |
| Jan 30, 2025 | +27.0% | +12.1% | +10.4% | +0.7% | -5.7% |
| Oct 24, 2024 | +4.4% | -2.1% | +1.7% | +1.7% | +8.2% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | $0.52 | $0.38 | +35.7% | $210.4M |
| May 7, 2026 | $0.52 | $0.46 | +13.0% | $203.0M |
| Feb 5, 2026 | $1.00 | $0.86 | +16.3% | $250.7M |
| Nov 6, 2025 | $0.62 | $0.44 | +39.9% | $219.0M |
| Aug 7, 2025 | $0.34 | $0.29 | +17.2% | $186.7M |
| May 8, 2025 | $0.52 | $0.52 | +0.0% | $205.0M |
| Jan 30, 2025 | $0.94 | $0.74 | +27.0% | $252.0M |
| Oct 24, 2024 | $0.47 | $0.45 | +4.4% | $191.1M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 24.8× | 36.1× | 33th | Top 23% |
| P/E (forward) | 15.0× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 12.4× | — | — | Top 20% |
| EV / Sales | 2.79× | — | — | Top 38% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 8.67% | — | — | Top 17% |
| Earnings yield | 4.03% | — | — | Top 23% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 20.7× – 81.2× 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
- +55.9%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +65.2%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +14.1%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
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
- 3
- Days above the 200-day average
- 288
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -3.3%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +3.5%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +5.0%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +16.5%
- RSI (14)
- 65.2
- Relative volume
- 0.81×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 27.2%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 13th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.94
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.50
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -8.7%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -37.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1, 2022 | Jun 14, 2024 | -53.4% | 385 days | 474 days (May 7, 2026) |
| May 27, 2022 | Sep 6, 2022 | -20.9% | 68 days | 57 days (Nov 25, 2022) |
| Feb 12, 2021 | May 4, 2021 | -17.7% | 55 days | 127 days (Nov 2, 2021) |
| Jul 9, 2026 | Sep 8, 2026 | -17.5% | 42 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 12, 2020 | Nov 2, 2020 | -15.9% | 15 days | 17 days (Nov 25, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $2.98B
- P/E (TTM)
- 24.8
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.65
- Revenue (TTM)
- $883.2M
- 52-week range
- $25.20 – $45.28
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $855.6M | $914.5M | $829.5M | $822.7M | $859.5M |
| Gross profit | $641.4M | $691.4M | $642.0M | $643.9M | $637.9M |
| Operating income | $48.6M | $77.7M | -$149.8M | -$367.6M | $111.7M |
| Net income | $35.9M | $59.6M | -$147.7M | -$366.9M | $95.5M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.48 | $0.82 | -$2.07 | -$5.06 | $1.30 |
| Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q1 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $191.1M | $252.0M | $205.0M | $186.7M | $219.0M | $250.7M | $203.0M | $210.4M |
| Net income | $9.0M | $48.8M | $18.6M | -$3.7M | $25.8M | $55.1M | $18.2M | $21.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.13 | $0.67 | $0.25 | -$0.05 | $0.36 | $0.75 | $0.25 | $0.29 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $296.0M | $156.7M | $58.8M | $217.7M | $294.5M |
| Capital expenditure | -$10.4M | -$10.6M | -$6.3M | -$6.7M | -$9.1M |
| Free cash flow | $285.6M | $146.0M | $52.5M | $211.0M | $285.4M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$35.7M | -$150.0M | -$50.0M | -$25.3M | -$60.8M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $629.4M
- Total assets
- $2.31B
- Total liabilities
- $647.8M
- Total debt
- $40.0M
- Net debt
- -$512.8M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.66B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 3,693,254
- Days to cover
- 5.76
- Change vs previous report
- -2.9%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.