By Katherine Hamilton
F5 expects revenue in its current fiscal year to take a hit from a recent cyber attack that compromised software used by government agencies.
The software and cybersecurity company on Monday said it expects revenue in fiscal year 2026 to be flat to up 4%. That compares with Wall Street estimates of roughly 9% growth, according to FactSet.
F5 anticipates near-term disruptions to its sales cycles following a recent security incident, the company said. F5 in August discovered that nation-state hackers had compromised government software. Earlier in October, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued an emergency directive, giving all civilian agencies one week to patch their F5 products.
Any demand impacts from the incident are likely to be more pronounced during the first half of the year and then normalize, F5 said. The company expects adjusted earnings per share to be $14.50 to $15.50 for the full year, compared with the $15.39 analysts were expecting.
For its fiscal fourth quarter, F5 posted a profit of $190 million, or $3.26 a share, compared with $165 million, or $2.80 a share, a year earlier.
Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings were $4.39, ahead of the $3.97 anticipated by analysts, according to FactSet.
Revenue rose 8% to $810 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast revenue of $794.9 million.
Sales growth was driven by a 16% increase in product revenue, including 42% growth in systems revenue, Chief Executive François Locoh-Donou said.
Write to Katherine Hamilton at katherine.hamilton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 27, 2025 16:37 ET (20:37 GMT)
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