F5 Stock Soars 9% as Q1 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates

Core Insights - F5, Inc. (FFIV) shares rose 9.3% in pre-market trading following better-than-expected first-quarter fiscal 2026 results, with non-GAAP EPS of $4.45, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 22.21% and management's guidance of $3.35-$3.85 [1][10] Financial Performance - F5 reported first-quarter revenues of $822 million, surpassing the consensus mark by 8.22% and reflecting a 7% year-over-year increase, also exceeding management's guidance of $730-$780 million [2] - Product revenues, accounting for 49.9% of total revenues, increased 11% year over year to $410 million, driven by a 37% surge in Systems revenues to $218 million [3][4] - Software revenues declined 8% year over year to $192 million, partially offsetting the growth in Systems revenues [5] - Global Services revenues grew 4% year over year to $412 million, contributing to overall revenue growth [5] - Non-GAAP gross profit increased 7.2% year over year to $689 million, with a gross margin of 83.8% [6] Cash Flow and Balance Sheet - F5 ended the quarter with cash and short-term investments of $1.22 billion, down from $1.36 billion in the previous quarter, and generated an operating cash flow of $159 million [7] - The company repurchased shares worth $300 million during the fiscal first quarter [7] Guidance and Outlook - For Q2 fiscal 2026, F5 expects revenues between $770 million and $790 million, with a Zacks Consensus Estimate of $747.2 million, indicating approximately 2.2% year-over-year growth [8] - The projected non-GAAP EPS for Q2 is in the range of $3.34-$3.46, with a consensus estimate of $3.36, suggesting a year-over-year decrease of 1.8% [9] - F5 raised its fiscal 2026 revenue growth guidance to 5-6%, up from the previous 0-4% range, with a consensus estimate of $3.16 billion [11]