Why Is Technology Company F5 Stock Rocketing Premarket Tuesday?

F5 Inc FFIV shares are trading higher after the company reported first-quarter FY24 results.

Revenue declined 1% Y/Y to $693 million, beating the consensus of $685.3 million.

Global services revenue rose 7% Y/Y, while product revenue fell 10% Y/Y, reflecting software revenue growth of 2% Y/Y and systems revenue decline of 22% Y/Y.

Adjusted gross profit increased to $575 million from $563 million a year ago, with an adjusted gross margin of 83.1% (vs. 80.4% a year ago). 

Adjusted operating profit rose to $246 million from $185 million the prior year, with margin expanding to 35.5% from 26.5% a year ago.

Adjusted EPS of $3.43, beating the consensus of $3.04. 

Outlook: For the second quarter, F5 expects revenue of $675 million-$695 million (vs. consensus of $674.54 million), with adjusted EPS of $2.79-$2.91 (vs. $2.95 estimate).

The company raised the adjusted EPS growth outlook to 6% to 8% from growth of 5% to 7% for FY24, led by a lower expected tax rate.

“Our customers face a growing crisis about how to effectively manage and secure the ever-increasing number of applications and APIs that power their businesses. The situation will be exacerbated by widespread adoption and proliferation of AI, which introduces more demanding, and more distributed applications to the mix.”

“F5 is the application and API expert, with deep expertise built over decades securing, delivering, and optimizing demanding applications. The product portfolio we have created through both organic and inorganic innovation in recent years is designed to assist our customers in addressing exactly these challenges.”

Price Action: FFIV shares are up 10.27% at $204.40 premarket on the last check Tuesday.