F5 warns breach that alarmed governments will weigh on sales, shares slide

Core Viewpoint - F5 forecasts annual revenue below Wall Street estimates due to a recent systems breach that may impact demand for its services [1][4] Group 1: Revenue Forecast - F5 anticipates full-year revenue growth of 0% to 4%, which is below the average analyst estimate of a 4.8% increase [4] - The company forecasts first-quarter revenue between $730 million and $780 million, also below the estimate of $791 million [5] Group 2: Impact of Security Breach - The recent breach allowed hackers to have "long-term, persistent access" to certain company systems, including source code for a key cybersecurity service [2] - U.S. officials indicated that federal networks were targeted in the aftermath of the hack, prompting calls for immediate action [2] - F5 expects near-term disruption to sales cycles as customers assess and remediate their environments following the security incident [3] - The breach primarily affected BIG-IP customers, with some needing to upgrade to the latest releases [3] - A small subset of customers experienced limited data exfiltration, but initial feedback suggested the data was not sensitive [4]