F5, Inc.

Strong Q3 performance; momentum across ADC + AI security + AI data delivery - Revenue: $865M (+11% YoY), above the top end of guidance; mix 54% product / 46% services - Product revenue: $463M (+19% YoY) → 8 consecutive quarters of double-digit product growth - Systems revenue: $240M (+32% YoY); software up 7% YoY (subscription software $201M, +9% YoY = 90% of software) - Earnings: Non-GAAP EPS ~$4.73 (+14% YoY); Non-GAAP operating margin 35% - Management attributed growth to durable IT shifts: hybrid multi-cloud, expanding application threat landscape, and AI inference inflection (including direct and indirect AI-driven traffic on ADC).

Guidance upgrade for FY26 (and improved Q4 gross margin view) - Q4 revenue outlook: $870M–$890M (just under ~9% YoY at midpoint) - Q4 non-GAAP EPS: $4.14–$4.26 - Q4 non-GAAP gross margin: 83%–84% (improved vs prior outlook) - FY26 revenue forecast raised to ~9%–10% growth (from 7%–8%) - FY26 EPS raised: $17.21–$17.33 (from $16.25–$16.55) - FY26 non-GAAP gross margin: 83.5%–84%; non-GAAP operating margin: 34.5%–35.5% - Key drivers cited for the upside: higher mix into performance systems + better component sourcing/delivery outcomes; however, they did not change FY27 gross margin expectations due to ongoing component pricing uncertainty.

AI-related business: strong customer traction, but revenue growth not mechanically tied to customer counts - They referenced having passed ~$50M revenue for direct AI use cases (said they may not update the exact figure each quarter; could revisit at year-end). - AI data delivery: strong pipeline/wins, including competitive displacement and capacity expansion. - AI runtime security: uptake accelerating—AI security customers grew ~100% in the quarter; early adoption of AI-powered WAF on Distributed Cloud described as exceptionally fast (hundreds of customers in early months; majority in blocking mode). - AI factory load balancing: performance value proposition described as enabling ~30%–50% more tokens per GPU (depending on tests), improving ROI as token economics become more important. - Management explicitly said AI revenue growth should not be assumed to scale linearly with customer growth—important for modeling expectations.