F5 Revenue Rises to $917 Million as Product Sales Grow 23 Percent and Board Adds $1.5 Billion Buyback

Update: F5 shares fall 20 percent in worst day in more than 13 years

Updated 02:40 UTC, Oct. 29, 2026. Shares of F5 closed down 20.43 percent on Wednesday at $365.53, a fall of $93.83 from Tuesday's close of $459.36, after investors reacted to the company's slower growth outlook and a downgrade from Piper Sandler, The Motley Fool reported. GeekWire reported the stock was trading around $368 late Wednesday morning, down from $459 at Tuesday's close, wiping out about $5 billion in market value and putting F5 on pace for its biggest one-day drop in more than 13 years, according to Barron's. Before the drop, the shares had climbed nearly 80 percent this year.

Piper Sandler downgraded F5 from overweight to neutral. The reaction centred on guidance the company gave with its results on Tuesday: revenue growth of 8 percent to 9 percent in fiscal 2027, down from 11 percent in fiscal 2026, adjusted earnings per share growth of 3 percent to 5 percent, and lower margins as memory and storage components get more expensive and the company doubles its team of AI security sellers, GeekWire reported. F5's adjusted operating margin fell to 33.7 percent in the fourth quarter, from 37 percent a year earlier.

Chief Financial Officer Cooper Werner said on the earnings call that the systems replacements behind the quarter's 29 percent systems revenue growth will taper off in the second half of fiscal 2027, GeekWire reported. Chief Executive Francois Locoh-Donou said F5 will double its team of specialist AI security sellers in fiscal 2027 and more than double its marketing in that area, and that AI related bookings topped $100 million in fiscal 2026, up about 300 percent. The Motley Fool also reported that Evercore ISI, Barclays and Morgan Stanley raised their price targets on F5 after the results.

F5 reported fourth quarter revenue of $917 million on Tuesday, up 13 percent from $810 million a year earlier, as product revenue grew 23 percent. The results cover the quarter ended September 30, 2026, the final quarter of the company's fiscal 2026 year.

Product revenue totaled $510 million, up 23 percent from $414 million a year earlier. Systems revenue was $239 million, up 29 percent, and software revenue was $271 million, up 19 percent. Services revenue was $408 million, up 3 percent.

GAAP net income was $186 million, or $3.23 per diluted share, compared with $190 million, or $3.26, a year earlier. Non-GAAP net income was $255 million, or $4.42 per diluted share, compared with $257 million, or $4.39, a year earlier.

The non-GAAP earnings figure beat the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.16. Revenue also beat the analyst estimate of $884.03 million, with reported revenue put at $917.43 million in the consensus comparison.

A full year of product growth

Chairman, president and chief executive Francois Locoh-Donou said the quarter closed out an exceptional fiscal year. "Q4 closed out an exceptional fiscal year. In the quarter, we delivered 23% product revenue growth driving 13% total revenue growth year over year," he said in the release.

He also pointed to a longer run of product growth. "Nine consecutive quarters of double-digit product revenue growth reflect F5's expanding strategic role as our customers navigate hybrid multicloud complexity, an intensifying threat landscape, and a rapidly evolving AI-driven world," Locoh-Donou said.

For the full fiscal year, revenue was $3,417 million, compared with $3,088 million in fiscal 2025. GAAP net income for the year was $722 million and non-GAAP net income was $1,009 million.

Guidance and a larger buyback

F5 guided fiscal 2027 revenue growth of 8 percent to 9 percent and non-GAAP earnings of $18.00 to $18.30 per share. For the first quarter of fiscal 2027, it guided revenue of $875 million to $895 million and non-GAAP earnings of $4.25 to $4.37 per share.

The board authorised an additional $1.5 billion for the share repurchase program. The amount is incremental to the $322 million remaining under the existing program.

Seeking Alpha reported that F5 shares fell slightly after the results, as the fiscal 2027 revenue guidance showed a slight deceleration. The stock had closed Tuesday down $2.24 at $459.36 in regular trading before the release.

For investors, the quarter was a beat on both revenue and adjusted earnings, led by systems and software. The guidance for the new fiscal year still points to growth, but at a slower rate than the product surge that drove the fourth quarter.