Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Key Points

• Arista Networks beat quarterly expectations: The company reported EPS of $1.02 versus the $0.89 consensus estimate and revenue of $3.04 billion versus forecasts of $2.83 billion.
• Shares rose 3.4% to $191.21 following the results. Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $189.74.
• Insiders sold substantial shares: Executives and other insiders sold 2.3 million shares worth $382.2 million over the past three months, while institutional investors own 82.47% of the company.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.13, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.32% and a return on equity of 30.10%.

Arista Networks Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of NYSE ANET traded up $6.32 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $191.21. 12,476,303 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,587,688. The firm has a market cap of $240.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.48, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.60. Arista Networks has a twelve month low of $114.52 and a twelve month high of $194.35. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.69.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ANET shares. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $195.00 price target (up from $184.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and set a $200.00 price target (up from $178.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $164.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Arista Networks from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $189.74.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In related news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 242,422 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.17, for a total transaction of $45,616,547.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,171,095 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $973,044,946.15. This represents a 4.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.08, for a total transaction of $4,482,560.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 12,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,678.08. This represents a 71.15% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 2,300,316 shares of company stock worth $382,160,575 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Arista Networks by 321.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,806 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $863,000 after buying an additional 5,955 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Bison Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $251,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 48.4% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,723 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 31.3% during the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 4,193 shares of the technology company's stock worth $429,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc is a technology company that designs and sells cloud networking solutions for large-scale data centers and enterprise environments. The company is best known for its high-performance switching and routing platforms, which are used to build scalable, low-latency networks for cloud service providers, internet companies, financial services, telecommunications, and enterprise IT. Arista's offerings emphasize programmability, automation and telemetry to support modern, software-driven network architectures.

Central to Arista's product portfolio is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modular network operating system that provides consistent programmability, stateful control and advanced visibility across the company's hardware platforms.

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