Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Trading Up 2.5% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Arista Networks shares rose 2.5% on Friday, trading above recent levels with volume well above average, suggesting strong investor interest in the stock.
• The company continues to benefit from AI infrastructure spending, with analysts citing hyperscaler network expansion and next-generation Ethernet demand as key growth drivers.
• Wall Street remains mostly bullish after Arista’s strong quarterly results, including 35.1% revenue growth and an EPS beat, though recent insider selling may create some short-term caution.

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 2.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $161.50 and last traded at $159.0930. Approximately 15,258,921 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 72% from the average daily volume of 8,847,229 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.27.

Key Arista Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Arista Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Arista Networks as a strong growth stock, pointing to its appeal across growth and momentum screens and reinforcing the view that ANET remains a high-quality long-term compounder. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Another Zacks note said ANET is benefiting from AI infrastructure spending, with hyperscalers expanding networks and driving demand for next-generation Ethernet products, which supports the company’s growth outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains constructive on Arista Networks, with multiple analysts reiterating Buy/Overweight ratings and lifting price targets, reflecting confidence in continued revenue and earnings growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings were solid, with Arista beating EPS and revenue estimates and posting 35% year-over-year revenue growth, which continues to underpin bullish sentiment.
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional ownership remains high, and several small new positions were reported, but these filings are unlikely to be a major near-term driver on their own.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales by CFO Chantelle Yvette Breithaupt, CEO Jayshree Ullal, and major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim may create some short-term caution, even though the trades were made under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ANET shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $181.00 target price (up from $175.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $187.00 price target (up from $177.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial set a $175.00 price target on Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Arista Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $185.72.

Arista Networks Trading Up 2.5%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $147.06 and a 200 day moving average of $137.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.67.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.10% and a net margin of 38.32%.The company had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Arista Networks's quarterly revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.880 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.31, for a total value of $5,225,920.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,119,110.56. This represents a 71.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 428,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.44, for a total value of $75,944,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,209,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $924,321,690.08. The trade was a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 1,943,142 shares of company stock valued at $314,618,583 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cozad Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,146 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,389 shares in the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $245,000. Summitry LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $403,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Arista Networks by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. now owns 47,251 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BankChampaign National Association acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $817,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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