FY2026 EPS Estimate for Arista Networks Increased by Analyst

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) – Equities researchers at Erste Group Bank upped their FY2026 earnings estimates for Arista Networks in a report issued on Thursday, October 8th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now forecasts that the technology company will post earnings per share of $3.79 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $3.78. Erste Group Bank currently has a “Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Arista Networks’ current full-year earnings is $3.78 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for Arista Networks’ FY2027 earnings at $4.74 EPS.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $259.00 price objective (up from $187.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Arista Networks from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 target price (up from $181.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.45.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET opened at $210.72 on Tuesday. Arista Networks has a 1 year low of $114.52 and a 1 year high of $217.41. The firm has a market cap of $265.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.47, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $198.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.87.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.65% and a net margin of 38.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS.

Insider Activity

In other Arista Networks news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 96,992 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.14, for a total value of $21,060,842.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 4,797,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,695,927.58. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $59,685,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 180,543,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,919,039,399.60. This trade represents a 0.17% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 3,468,906 shares of company stock valued at $706,366,437 in the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 159.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 121,303,125 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,606,975,000 after buying an additional 74,541,134 shares during the period. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the second quarter worth about $1,101,860,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 199.0% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,630,196 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,635,978,000 after buying an additional 6,409,612 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the second quarter worth about $537,736,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Arista Networks by 34.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,725,196 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,712,788,000 after acquiring an additional 2,497,275 shares in the last quarter. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Arista Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts modestly raised earnings forecasts. Erste Group Bank maintained a “Buy” rating and increased its FY2026 EPS estimate to $3.79 from $3.78 and its FY2027 estimate to $4.74 from $4.73. The revisions reinforce expectations for continued earnings growth, although the changes were small. MarketBeat Arista Networks analyst estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Revenue visibility remains strong. A recent analysis highlighted that Arista raised its revenue outlook for the third time this year and that non-cancellable purchase commitments increased 2.7 times to $9.7 billion in one year. These commitments suggest substantial customer demand, particularly from data-center and AI infrastructure buyers. Arista Networks prospects and earnings analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Arista continues to outperform much of its technology sector. The coverage compares ANET’s year-to-date performance with other computer and technology stocks, highlighting strong momentum but also potentially elevated expectations after its substantial advance. Arista Networks sector performance comparison
• Negative Sentiment: Deferred revenue is prompting cash-flow scrutiny. Arista reported approximately $6.866 billion in deferred revenue. While this reflects cash collected for services or products not yet recognized as revenue, investors are assessing how much of the company’s reported cash strength comes from timing-related collections rather than current-period operations. Arista deferred revenue analysis
• Negative Sentiment: CEO insider selling may weigh on sentiment. Arista’s CEO sold approximately $21.1 million of company stock. Such sales do not necessarily indicate deteriorating fundamentals, but they can pressure a richly valued growth stock and raise caution among investors. Arista Networks CEO insider sale

Arista Networks Company Profile

Arista Networks, Inc develops and sells cloud networking solutions for data centers, campus environments and high-performance computing applications. Its products include Ethernet switches, routers, wireless access points and related networking equipment designed to support cloud computing, artificial intelligence, enterprise and service-provider networks.

The company’s software portfolio includes Arista EOS, its network operating system, and CloudVision, a platform that helps customers manage, automate and monitor network infrastructure.