F5 Stock Soars 8% as Q3 Earnings and Revenues Crush Estimates

Core Insights - F5, Inc. (FFIV) shares increased by 7.7% after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter results for fiscal 2025, along with an optimistic guidance for the full fiscal year [1] Financial Performance - F5 reported non-GAAP earnings of $4.16 per share, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 19.2% and management's guidance of $3.41-$3.53, marking a 23.8% year-over-year increase [2][9] - Revenues for the third quarter reached $780 million, surpassing the consensus mark by 3.6% and showing a 12.2% year-over-year growth, also exceeding management's guidance of $740-$760 million [2][9] Revenue Breakdown - Product revenues, accounting for 49.8% of total revenues, rose 26% year-over-year to $389 million, driven by a 39% increase in Systems revenues to $181 million and a 16% increase in Software revenues to $208 million [3][4][5][9] - Global Services revenues, making up 50.2% of total revenues, grew 1% year-over-year to $392 million [5] Profitability Metrics - Non-GAAP gross profit increased by 12.3% year-over-year to $649 million, with a gross margin of 83.1% [6] - Non-GAAP operating income rose 14.6% to $267 million, with an operating margin improvement of 90 basis points to 34.3% [6] Balance Sheet and Cash Flow - F5 ended the quarter with cash and short-term investments of $1.44 billion, up from $1.26 billion in the previous quarter [7] - The company generated an operating cash flow of $282 million during the quarter and $742 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2025 [7] - F5 repurchased shares worth $125 million in the fiscal third quarter and $377 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2025 [7] Guidance and Future Outlook - F5 raised its fiscal 2025 revenue growth forecast to approximately 9% at the midpoint, up from the previous projection of 6.5-7.5% [8] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2025 revenues is $3.02 billion, indicating a year-over-year growth of 7.3% [8] - For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, F5 expects revenues between $780 million and $800 million, with a consensus estimate of $770.6 million [10]