F5 (FFIV)
Forward P/E 21.85x against a peer median of 34.25x gives a ratio of 0.64x, which mechanically screens undervalued — but the discount is earned, not a mispricing: PEG 3.36 is by far the weakest growth-adjusted figure in this set, and latest-quarter revenue growth of +10.9% YoY (PRIMARY/EDGAR) is less than half the cluster median of +27.3%, because the peer median is lifted by fast-growing AI-networking names (ANET 40.30x, LITE 39.74x). Against its closest multiple peer, Cisco at 21.52x forward, F5 is priced almost identically, and trailing P/E is 31.83x. Delivered demand check: the Communications equipment group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 27.3% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising, but F5 is growing much more slowly than that demand.
What would change this label: Moves to UNDERVALUED if delivered revenue growth accelerates above +18% YoY and the PEG compresses below ~1.5 at an unchanged price, showing the discount is no longer explained by growth; moves to OVERVALUED if revenue growth falls below +5% YoY while the forward P/E holds above ~22x.
F5 sells equipment and software that keep business applications running safely and quickly. Its shares look cheap next to networking rivals, but that is mainly because those rivals are growing much faster on AI data-centre spending, while F5's sales grew about 11%. Adjusted for that slower growth, the price looks about right — neither a clear bargain nor overpriced.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window F5 returned +250.39% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for F5: -47.4% (2021-12-29 to 2023-04-25). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E 21.85x against a peer median of 34.25x gives a ratio of 0.64x, which mechanically screens undervalued — but the discount is earned, not a mispricing: PEG 3.36 is by far the weakest growth-adjusted figure in this set, and latest-quarter revenue growth of +10.9% YoY (PRIMARY/EDGAR) is less than half the cluster median of +27.3%, because the peer median is lifted by fast-growing AI-networking names (ANET 40.30x, LITE 39.74x). Against its closest multiple peer, Cisco at 21.52x forward, F5 is priced almost identically, and trailing P/E is 31.83x. Delivered demand check: the Communications equipment group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 27.3% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising, but F5 is growing much more slowly than that demand. The company’s forward P/E is 21.9× against a peer median of 34.2×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Communications equipment group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 27.3% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising. Latest-quarter sales growth was +10.9% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| F5 (FFIV) | $398.49 | 21.9× | 31.8× |
| CIEN | $356.35 | 34.2× | 79.6× |
| LITE | $878.00 | 39.7× | — |
| MSI | $478.38 | 26.4× | 37.7× |
| ANET | $188.16 | 40.3× | 59.5× |
| CSCO | $110.73 | 21.5× | 33.2× |
| Peer median | 34.2× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
Gross margin = gross profit divided by sales, from SEC filings.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Jun 2026 2026-06-30 | $865M | 82.2% | $208M | 3.62 | $281M |
| Q/E Mar 2026 2026-03-31 | $812M | 81.4% | $148M | 2.58 | $348M |
| Q/E Dec 2025 2025-12-31 | $822M | 81.5% | $180M | 3.10 | $149M |
| Q/E Sep 2025 2025-09-30 | $810M | 82.2% | $190M | — | $192M |
| Q/E Jun 2025 2025-06-30 | $780M | 81.0% | $190M | 3.25 | $274M |
| Q/E Mar 2025 2025-03-31 | $731M | 80.7% | $146M | 2.48 | $246M |
| Q/E Dec 2024 2024-12-31 | $766M | 81.7% | $166M | 2.82 | $195M |
| Q/E Sep 2024 2024-09-30 | $747M | 80.8% | $165M | — | $240M |
| Q/E Jun 2024 2024-06-30 | $695M | 80.4% | $144M | 2.44 | $153M |
| Q/E Mar 2024 2024-03-31 | $681M | 79.3% | $119M | 2.00 | $212M |
| Q/E Dec 2023 2023-12-31 | $693M | 80.3% | $138M | 2.32 | $156M |
| Q/E Sep 2023 2023-09-30 | $707M | 80.1% | $152M | — | $174M |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | F5, INC. |
| Chief executive | François Locoh-Donou (source: https://www.f5.com/company/leadership/francois-locoh-donou) |
| Sector | Technology — Communications Equipment — application delivery and application-security networking equipment and software |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $398.49 |
| Market value (market cap) | $26.0B — share price times shares outstanding of 56,627,182 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $3.3B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $727M |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | $970M |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Jun 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | +250.39% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -47.4% (2021-12-29 to 2023-04-25) |
What we could not verify
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
- Valuation multiples were captured on Oct 28 at $398.49 while the price series closes Oct 27 at $459.36 — the shares moved between the two; multiples correspond to the captured price.
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0001048695.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001048695.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/FFIV/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.