Piper Jaffray Cut Price Target on F5 Networks (FFIV) Following 1Q Earnings
Piper Jaffray maintained a Neutral rating on F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV), and cut the price target to $100.00 (from $123.00), following the company's 1Q earnings report. F5 reported respectable December quarter results, driven by stronger than expected service revenues and offset by product revenue, which continued to decline year/year. Revenues of $489.5 million increased 5.8% year/year, and came in $4.1 million ahead of Street expectations ($485.4M).
Analyst Troy Jensen commented, "F5 reported respectable December quarter results, driven by stronger than expected service revenues and offset by product revenue, which continued to decline year/year (down 2.6% from the year ago level), while March quarter guidance implies another quarter of decelerating product growth. We believe the company is experiencing a pause in front of a meaningful new product introduction cycle with a variety of new offerings scheduled to be introduced in the March and June quarters. While F5’s stock is looking attractive on several cash flow metrics, we believe shares will continue to underperform vs. other names in our coverage until we get evidence that the new products can reaccelerate product growth and we anticipate the earliest this will happen is in the 2H of calendar 2016. As a result, we are maintaining our Neutral rating and lowering our price target to $100 (from $123) on FFIV shares."
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Shares of F5 Networks closed at $90.02 yesterday.