F5, Inc.

Rank #159Capital Return

FFIV · Nasdaq · Technology

F5, Inc. (FFIV) — Rank #159 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.37) · ROE 18.0% · Piotroski F-Score N/A.

As-of 2026-09-15 · CIK 0001048695 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.

About

F5, Inc. provides multicloud application security and delivery solutions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region.

The company's distributed cloud services enable its customers to deploy, secure, and operate applications in any architecture, from on-premises to the public cloud. It also offers unified, security, networking, and application management solutions, such as web app and API protection; multi-cloud networking; application delivery and deployment; domain name system; content delivery network; and application deployment and orchestration. In addition, the company provides application security and delivery products, including NGINX Plus; NGINX One Console; NGINX Ingress Controller; WAF for NGINX; BIG-IP Packaged Software; and BIG-IP Systems. Further, it provides a range of professional services, including maintenance, consulting, training, and other technical support services. The company sells its products to large enterprise businesses, public sector institutions, governments, and service providers through distributors, value-added resellers, managed service providers, systems integrators, and other indirect channel partners. It has partnerships with public cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. The company was formerly known as F5 Networks, Inc. and changed its name to F5, Inc. in November 2021. F5, Inc.

was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Industry: Software - Infrastructure
Sector: Technology
State: WA
Filer Category: Large accelerated filer
Fiscal Year End: September 30
Website: f5.com

Price History

FFIV+103.3% · +15.2% CAGRSPY+80.3% · +12.5% CAGR

Company Snapshot

P/E and reverse DCF are the primary valuation lenses at this stage.

Market Cap

$23.90B

P/E (annual)

35.8

P/S (annual)

7.7

P/B

6.2

P/OCF (annual)

25.2

Shareholder Yield

1.1%

Employees

6,512

Industry

Software - Infrastructure

Exchange

Nasdaq

Signal Flags

5 green

Revenue growth acceleratingGrowth rate increasing year over year

Operating leverage expandingOperating income growing faster than revenue

Deferred revenue growingRevenue and deferred revenue both growing — retention signal

RPO outpacing revenueRemaining performance obligations growing faster than recognized revenue — forward demand building

Sequential beat (rev + EPS)Both revenue and EPS exceeded prior quarter — 3-quarter streak

Quality Profile

Profitability

1/1 pass

GP / assets

0.37

Return on equity

18.0%

Gross margin trend

PASS

Safety

1/1 pass

Balance-sheet safety

PASS

Debt / equity

0.77

Current ratio

1.66×

Net cash

$1.63B

Cash Flow

3/3 pass

Positive FCF

PASS

Cash-backed earnings

PASS

Accruals healthy

PASS

SBC / revenue

7.5%

Growth

2/2 pass

Revenue growth

9.7%

Piotroski F-Score

N/A

Share dilution

-1.1%

Terry Smith quality gate

Passes 3/5 Terry Smith thresholds

1 of 5 threshold not computable from filed data.

What Growth Is Priced In

Implied revenue growth (10Y)

12.0%

incredible deal

The annual FCF growth rate today's price requires over a 10-year horizon (discount rate 10%, terminal growth 2.5%).

Buyback tailwind: -1.1% — per-share value needs a total required return of 10.8% once share-count change is priced in.

vs. own 6-year median revenue growth: 4.6%

priced above its own history

Cost-of-equity sensitivity (implied growth at different discount rates)

r = 8%

7.4%

r = 10% (base)

12.0%

r = 12%

15.9%

Net debt / market cap: -6.6%

Base FCF: $906.4M3Y mean FCF: $755.9M

Valuation History

Current multiple vs historical range at each filing date. Band spans 25th-75th percentile.

P / E

Price / diluted EPS

20.3xCheap

19.9xmed 25.1x113.3x

P / S

Price / revenue per share

4.6xFair

3.4xmed 4.3x15.8x

P / B

Price / book value per share

3.9xCheap

3.5xmed 4.8x12.9x

P / GP

Price / gross profit per share

5.6xFair

4.3xmed 5.2x20.3x

P / FCF

Price / free cash flow per share

15.5xFair

12.7xmed 16.5x54.3x

Earnings bubble check

Current margins may be above sustainable levels — a P/E based on peak earnings can overstate cheapness.

Net margin22.4% now vs 12.0%–22.4% 10yr range

1.5σ above average

FCF yield, shareholder yield, and buyback activity are the primary reads at this stage.

Profitability

Gross profitability (GP / assets)

0.37

Primary signal (Novy-Marx).

2nd of 5 SIC 3576 peers

Return on equity

18.0%

Gross margin

81.4%

1st of 5 SIC 3576 peers

Revenue growth (YoY)

9.7%

RPO growth (YoY)

11.1%

Remaining performance obligations growth — RPO > revenue = forward demand building.

Gross margin improving

Margin trend vs prior year.

PASS

Operating Leverage

	2022	2023	2024	2025
Revenue vs COGS
Revenue vs OpEx
Op. Income vs Revenue

Growth

Revenue CAGR (3Y)

4.6%

Revenue CAGR (5Y)

5.6%

Earnings CAGR (3Y)

29.0%

FCF CAGR (3Y)

30.4%

Anti-fragile safety

Balance-sheet safety

Composite anti-fragile check.

PASS

Debt / equity

0.77

4th of 5 SIC 3576 peers (best = lowest)

Current ratio

1.66×

3rd of 5 SIC 3576 peers

Quick ratio

1.15×

Net cash

$1.63B

Cash & equivalents minus total debt.

Cash-flow health

Free cash flow

$906.41M

Operating cash flow minus capex.

Positive free cash flow

PASS

FCF / net income

0.31

Cash-backing of earnings.

FCF/NI divergence

Unfavorable divergence (yellow flag).

PASS

Accruals healthy

Cash-backed earnings.

PASS

SBC / revenue

7.5%

Stock-based comp intensity.

Piotroski F-Score

F-Score

N/A

Only 8/9 components determinable.

Lifecycle Phase History

2020

2021

2022-2025

20202025

Value

Op. Leverage

Capital Return

View full financial statements →