F5: Fiscal 4Q Earnings Snapshot

SEATTLE (AP) _ F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) on Monday reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $77.7 million.

The Seattle-based company said it had profit of $1.26 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $2.43 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.38 per share.

The computer networking company posted revenue of $614.8 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $607.1 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $307.4 million, or $5.01 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.35 billion.

For the current quarter ending in January, F5 expects its per-share earnings to range from $2.26 to $2.38. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $2.23.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $595 million to $615 million for the fiscal first quarter. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $607.1 million.

F5 shares have decreased 10% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen slightly more than 5%. In the final minutes of trading on Monday, shares hit $125.57, a drop of 14% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FFIV at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FFIV