At a glance
F5 Networks Inc is worth $18.38B, about 28 times its fiscal 2025 earnings. Revenue grew 9.7% to $3.09B in fiscal 2025, with 22.4% kept as profit; over 5 years it has grown 5.6% a year. It pays no dividend; it spent $2.35B buying back its shares over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned +28.3% over the past year with dividends reinvested and +7.8% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 32.1% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 42.7% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 1 month and 25 months after the lows.
The business in plain English
F5 provides software, hardware and services that keep business applications fast and protected from attack. Its tools manage the traffic flowing to an organization's apps and APIs (application programming interfaces), the links that let programs talk to each other. They also block threats such as automated bots and DDoS attacks, which try to knock a site offline with junk traffic. Customers include large enterprises, governments, public sector institutions and service providers. F5 was incorporated in 1996 and is based in Seattle.
F5 has three main product families. BIG-IP handles traditional applications in data centers or the cloud. NGINX, built on widely used open-source web software, targets newer apps designed for the cloud. Distributed Cloud Services delivers similar tools as SaaS (software as a service, run over the internet) and as managed services. F5 charges for software through one-time perpetual licenses, subscriptions and usage-based fees. It also earns money from hardware and from maintenance, consulting, training and support.
In the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, revenue was about $3.09 billion. Services made up 51.1% of that and products 48.9%. F5 manages its business by region rather than by product segment. The United States supplied 52.8% of revenue, Europe, the Middle East and Africa 26.8%, Asia Pacific 17.4%, and the rest of the Americas 3%.
Price history
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FFIV +28.3% over the year to Nov 2, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
How it makes money
By product or service
| Service | $1.58B | 51.1% |
| Product | $1.51B | 48.9% |
By geography
| United States | $1.63B | 52.8% |
| EMEA | $827.2M | 26.8% |
| APAC | $536.8M | 17.4% |
| Other Americas | $92.9M | 3% |
Latest results
- In Q3 FY2026 (ended Jun 30, 2026), revenue was $865.1M, up 10.9% from a year earlier, and net income was $208.2M (+9.6%).
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $3.09B (+9.7% year over year; +5.6% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 22.4% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | +5.6% good |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | 24.8% good |
| Free cash flow margin | 29.4% good |
| Return on equity (FY2025) | 19.3% good |
| Return on assets (FY2025) | 11% good |
| Cash and investments | $1.63B (no borrowings found in the filings) good |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $2.35B | $307.4M | $601.0M |
| FY2021 | $2.60B | $331.2M | $614.5M |
| FY2022 | $2.70B | $322.2M | $409.0M |
| FY2023 | $2.81B | $394.9M | $599.2M |
| FY2024 | $2.82B | $566.8M | $762.0M |
| FY2025 | $3.09B | $692.4M | $906.4M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $18.38B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 27.5 |
| Dividend yield | None |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
F5 Networks’s market value went from $9.45B at the end of 2016 to $18.38B on Nov 2, 2026, up 94%; since the end of 2025 it is up 24%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2, 2026 | $18.38B | +23.9% |
| 2025 | $14.83B | +0.6% |
| 2024 | $14.74B | +37.9% |
| 2023 | $10.69B | +23.3% |
| 2022 | $8.66B | -42.2% |
| 2021 | $14.98B | +38.2% |
| 2020 | $10.84B | +27.7% |
| 2019 | $8.49B | -13.6% |
| 2018 | $9.82B | +19.6% |
| 2017 | $8.21B | -13.1% |
| 2016 | $9.45B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FFIV price data to Nov 2, 2026 | +27.1% | +28.3% | +28.5% | +7.8% | +9.1% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | +27.1% |
| 2025 | +1.5% |
| 2024 | +40.5% |
| 2023 | +24.7% |
| 2022 | -41.4% |
| 2021 | +39.1% |
| 2020 | +26.0% |
| 2019 | -13.8% |
| 2018 | +23.5% |
| 2017 | -9.3% |
| 2016 | +49.3% |
| 2015 | -25.7% |
| 2014 | +43.6% |
| 2013 | -6.5% |
| 2012 | -8.4% |
| 2011 | -18.5% |
| 2010 | +145.7% |
| 2009 | +131.7% |
| 2008 | -19.9% |
| 2007 | -23.1% |
| 2006 | +29.8% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Lost 56.8% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 59.2%, back to its old high 18.5 months after the low |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 24% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 32.1%, back to its old high 1.3 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 42.7% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 42.7%, back to its old high 25.1 months after the low |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-11-03 to 2026-11-03 (25 read): 0 open-market purchases and 33 sales ($8.2M), 23 of them under pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans.
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2, 2026 | Edward Cooper Werner Chief Financial Officer | sell (plan) | $1.0M |
| Sep 14, 2026 | Michael F Montoya Chief Technology Ops Officer | sell (plan) | $526K |
| Aug 5, 2026 | Thomas Dean Fountain EVP Global Services & Strategy | sell (plan) | $501K |
| Sep 14, 2026 | Michael F Montoya Chief Technology Ops Officer | sell (plan) | $483K |
| Aug 5, 2026 | Francois Locoh-Donou President, CEO & Director, Director | sell (plan) | $452K |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| Vanguard Capital Management | 7.49% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | 4.98% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Hotchkis and Wiley Capital Management, LLC | 3.65% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| First Trust Portfolios L.P. | 2.93% | Mar 31, 2026 |
ETFs with the most weight in FFIV
| FCTE SMI 3Fourteen Full-Cycle Trend ETF | 5.06% |
| XTL SPDR S&P Telecom ETF | 4.3% |
| WCBR WisdomTree Cybersecurity Fund | 3.98% |
| HACK Amplify Cybersecurity ETF | 3.89% |
| CIBR First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF | 3.68% |
| FCFY First Trust S&P 500 Diversified Free Cash Flow ETF | 2.68% |
| KONG Formidable Fortress ETF | 2.57% |
| CNAV Mohr Company Nav ETF | 2.54% |
What could go wrong
- Fallout from the disclosed cyber breach. On October 15, 2025, F5 disclosed that an attacker had long-term access to its systems and stole certain files. This has hurt, and may keep hurting, F5's reputation, customer ties, results and cash flow.
- Flaws in its own security products. F5's business is protecting applications. Weak spots, product errors or control failures in its products or its own IT systems could erode customer trust, sales and reputation.
- Cloud shift and tougher competition. The move to public clouds and internet-delivered software brings competitive and execution risks, meaning F5 could stumble in adapting. Industry mergers could also create bigger rivals in application delivery and security.
- Single source for hardware assembly. F5 relies on contract manufacturers, including a single source of hardware assembly, and on outside suppliers for components. If supplies fall short or that source is impaired, F5 may struggle to deliver its hardware systems.
- Unpredictable sales and end-of-quarter orders. F5's sales cycle is hard to predict, and it relies on orders fulfilled near the end of each quarter. Delays can push revenue below expected levels, which may cause sharp swings in the share price.
- Nearly half of revenue from abroad. Only 52.8% of fiscal 2025 revenue came from the US. The rest carries exposure to currency swings, export and import controls and other cross-border risks. Operations and staff in Israel add further risk.
Recent events
- Quarterly results released; Other company announcement
- Quarterly results released
- Executive or board change; Investor presentation or announcement
- Executive or board change; Other company announcement
- Quarterly results released
- Executive or board change; Shareholder vote results
- Quarterly results released
For income and retirement investors
F5 paid no dividends in fiscal 2021 through 2025 and had no dividend yield as of October 28, 2026. Without a payout, a retiree drawing income would have to trim shares, which hurts most in a slump. F5 instead uses buybacks (repurchases of its own stock): about $2.35 billion over those five years, including $502 million in fiscal 2025, when free cash flow (cash left after running and investing in the business) was $906 million. The share count fell 7.5% between November 2021 and August 2026.
The stock has fallen hard in downturns. In the 2008 crisis it dropped 59% from October 2007 to April 2008. It needed 18.5 months to recover. In the 2022 market decline it fell 42.7% and took about 25 months from its October 2022 low to regain its January 2022 high. The 32% COVID drop in 2020 was erased by April 28, 2020. A single stock carries more risk than a diversified fund.
Questions investors ask
Does F5 pay a dividend?
No. F5 paid no dividends in fiscal 2021 through 2025 and had no dividend yield as of October 28, 2026. Instead it returns cash through buybacks, repurchasing about $2.35 billion of its own stock over those five fiscal years. The share count fell 7.5% between November 2021 and August 2026, so each remaining share claims a larger slice of profits. Buybacks deliver no regular cash, though. The shares may suit investors focused on growth rather than income.
How does F5 make money?
F5 makes money from software, hardware and services that keep business applications and APIs (the links that let programs talk to each other) fast and secure. Customers include large enterprises, governments, public sector institutions and service providers. Its main product families are BIG-IP, NGINX and Distributed Cloud Services, offered through licenses, subscriptions, usage-based plans or SaaS (software delivered over the internet). In fiscal 2025, which ended September 30, 2025, services brought in 51.1% of its $3.09 billion revenue and products 48.9%. The United States supplied 52.8% of revenue.
What was the F5 security breach?
On October 15, 2025, F5 disclosed that an attacker had long-term, persistent access to its systems and stole certain files. The company calls this the Cyber Incident. In its annual report filed November 25, 2025, F5 said the incident has hurt, and may keep hurting, its business, reputation, relationships with customers, employees and partners, results and cash flow. Because F5's business is protecting applications, customer trust is central to its sales.
What is F5's P/E ratio?
About 31 as of October 28, 2026, based on fiscal 2025 earnings of $11.80 per diluted share. The P/E, or price-to-earnings ratio, compares the share price with a year of profit per share. F5's market value was about $20.7 billion on that date. For context, net income rose 22.2% in fiscal 2025 and revenue rose 9.7%. Revenue grew 10.9% from a year earlier in the quarter ended June 30, 2026, but it averaged 5.6% a year from fiscal 2020 to 2025.
How has F5 stock performed over the long term?
F5 shares rose about 10.5% a year over the 10 years to October 28, 2026, and 11.4% a year over five years, based on price alone. The path has been bumpy. The stock lost 41.4% in calendar 2022, and its deepest drop in about 21 years of price history was 60.4%. Over the one year to October 28, 2026, it gained 36.6%, though it fell 20.3% in the final week of that span.