F5, Inc.

Q3 performance: strong growth + margin/earnings beat - Revenue $865M (+11% YoY), at/above the top end of guidance. - Product revenue $463M (+19% YoY); services $402M (+3% YoY). - Systems revenue $240M (+32% YoY); software $223M (+7% YoY) with subscription software $201M (+9% YoY, ~90% of software); perpetual software $22M (-4% YoY). - GAAP gross margin 82.2% / non-GAAP 84.2%; Q3 non-GAAP EPS $4.73 (+14%). - Cash flow: $316M cash from ops, $281M free cash flow; DSO 45 days.

AI and “front door of applications/security” demand story is accelerating (surprising traction signals) - Management attributes growth to 3 secular trends: hybrid multi-cloud, expanding threat landscape (app-layer attacks), and AI inference inflection. - Direct AI momentum: they said $50M+ revenue from direct AI use cases (not updated every quarter), and customer count for direct AI use cases grew ~50% in Q3. - AI security traction: AI-powered WAF adoption since Q2—15% of Distributed Cloud WAF customers adopted, and of those, 75% running blocking vs monitor; Francois also highlighted “hundreds” of customers already running AI WAF in early months and it blocked zero-day attacks in the field. - Runtime security and “Mythos/Frontier AI” urgency: customers moving faster on patching/guardrails; also AI security customers grew 100% in Q3 (per commentary).

FY26 outlook raised; Q4 guidance strong (clear investor takeaway) - FY2026 revenue growth raised to ~9%–10% (from 7%–8% prior outlook). - Q4 revenue expected $870M–$890M (just under 9% YoY at midpoint). - Q4 non-GAAP gross margin 83%–84% (improved vs prior view). - FY26 non-GAAP gross margin 83.5%–84%; operating margin 34.5%–35.5%; FY26 non-GAAP EPS $17.21–$17.33 (raised from $16.25–$16.55). - Continued guidance emphasis: mid-single-digit software growth, double-digit systems growth, low-single-digit services growth.