Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Arista Networks (ANET) from a "hold" to a strong-buy, joining other bullish analyst actions; consensus is a Buy with an average price target of $176.44.
• Arista beat last quarter's estimates with EPS of $0.82 versus $0.75 and revenue of $2.49B versus $2.38B, reporting revenue up 28.9% year-over-year and a net margin of 38.99%.
• Analysts point to rising AI and hyperscale data-center demand — plus Arista's optics and EOS software — as key growth drivers that have supported recent stock outperformance and momentum.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Arista Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $175.00 price target (up from $159.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $176.44.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $154.44 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $194.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.96, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.95. Arista Networks has a one year low of $66.59 and a one year high of $164.94.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.99% and a return on equity of 30.37%. The firm's revenue was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Arista Networks will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Yvonne Wassenaar sold 1,815 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.44, for a total transaction of $240,378.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,574 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,665,300.56. This trade represents a 12.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.14, for a total transaction of $4,292,480.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,740,600.64. The trade was a 71.15% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 199,632 shares of company stock valued at $26,873,604. Insiders own 3.54% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 0.4% during the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,509 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,697,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in Arista Networks by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 16,085 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,133,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in Arista Networks by 56.7% during the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 199 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. raised its stake in Arista Networks by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 6,311 shares of the technology company's stock worth $827,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crown Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Arista Networks by 2.4% during the third quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the technology company's stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.47% of the company's stock.

Arista Networks News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Rising AI demand is a direct growth driver for Arista as the company positions its switches and optical products as core infrastructure for hyperscale AI data centers; analysts highlight this tailwind as a key reason for revenue acceleration. Can Rising AI Demand Boost Arista's Future Growth Prospects?
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term bullish thesis: Seeking Alpha argues Arista is “firing on all cylinders,” citing AI segment revenues set to double and exceed ~30% of sales, strong profitability, bookings momentum, and competitive advantages (EOS OS, optical innovations, cloud customer relationships). This supports a buy/complacent view among growth investors. Arista Networks: The Business Is Firing On All Cylinders But The Valuation Remains Reasonable
• Positive Sentiment: Market action: multiple reports note ANET has outperformed the broader market in the latest session, reflecting investor appetite for its AI/data-center exposure and recent fundamentals. This short-term momentum can amplify flows into the stock. Arista Networks (ANET) Outperforms Broader Market: What You Need to Know
• Positive Sentiment: Relative sector strength: coverage comparing Arista to peers shows ANET leading many computer/tech names year-to-date, reinforcing the view that it’s capturing market share in high-growth networking segments. Are Computer and Technology Stocks Lagging Arista Networks (ANET) This Year?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment: aggregate brokerage recommendations are bullish, but articles caution that ABR can be overly optimistic; investors should treat upgrades/consensus sentiment as a supportive but not decisive signal. Should You Invest in Arista Networks (ANET) Based on Bullish Wall Street Views?
• Neutral Sentiment: Near-term catalyst: previews of the next earnings report discuss what to expect from bookings, AI revenue mix and margin leverage; results that beat or miss these metrics will likely move the stock. Here's what to expect from Arista Networks’ next earnings report

About Arista Networks

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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