Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.13 EPS

06 Aug 2026, 14:41 by Mitch Edgeman · The Markets Daily

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET – Get Free Report) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.13, FiscalAI reports. Arista Networks had a net margin of 38.37% and a return on equity of 32.00%. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks updated its Q3 2026 guidance to 1.060-1.080 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Arista Networks’ conference call:

Positive Sentiment: Arista reported its first-ever $3 billion revenue quarter, with Q2 revenue up 37.7% year over year and above guidance, driven by AI and enterprise customers.
Positive Sentiment: Management raised its 2026 revenue outlook for the third time to approximately $12.6 billion, representing 40% annual growth, while also increasing its operating-margin target to 48%-49%.
Positive Sentiment: AI networking momentum continues to broaden, with Etherlink exceeding 100 cumulative customers and the company targeting at least $3.5 billion in 2026 AI Fabrics revenue. Arista also expects growth across core data-center, campus, and routing products.
Positive Sentiment: The company said supply-chain conditions are improving through additional suppliers, manufacturing and distribution capacity, secured 2026 memory supply, and new liquid-cooling capabilities, supporting stronger second-half shipments.
Negative Sentiment: Industry-wide component tightness and rising costs are expected to persist until roughly 2028, while Arista’s purchase commitments nearly tripled year over year to $9.7 billion, increasing execution and inventory risk despite the stronger outlook.

Arista Networks Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ANET traded down $2.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $195.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,895,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,648,935. Arista Networks has a 12 month low of $114.52 and a 12 month high of $214.89. The firm has a market cap of $245.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.90, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.60. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.63.

Insider Activity at Arista Networks

In other Arista Networks news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 260,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.57, for a total value of $43,048,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 182,543,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,223,652,457.36. This represents a 0.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 242,422 shares of Arista Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.17, for a total value of $45,616,547.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,171,095 shares in the company, valued at $973,044,946.15. The trade was a 4.48% 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 have sold 2,308,316 shares of company stock worth $383,608,735 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Arista Networks by 48.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $251,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $190,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $114,000. 82.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ANET. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Arista Networks from $175.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $181.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research downgraded Arista Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.05.

Read Our Latest Research Report on Arista Networks

Arista Networks News Summary

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

Positive Sentiment: Record quarter and earnings beat: Arista reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.02, above the $0.89 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 37.7% year over year to $3.04 billion, exceeding expectations of $2.83 billion and marking its first quarter above $3 billion. Arista forecasts upbeat quarterly revenue on AI-driven networking demand
Positive Sentiment: AI demand remains a major growth driver: Hyperscale cloud customers are expanding AI data-center infrastructure, boosting demand for Arista’s high-speed switching and routing products. The company also introduced 1.6 Tbps AI fabric platforms aimed at improving performance and power efficiency. Why Arista Networks Stock Rallied Today
Positive Sentiment: Guidance was raised: Arista forecast approximately $3.3 billion in Q3 revenue and $1.06–$1.08 in EPS, both above analyst estimates. Management also lifted its 2026 revenue outlook to $12.6 billion as supply availability improves, potentially allowing the company to fulfill more AI and data-center orders. Arista projects $12.6 billion 2026 revenue
Positive Sentiment: Analysts became more bullish: Rosenblatt raised its target to $280, TD Cowen to $250, Piper Sandler to $240 and Truist to $234, with bullish ratings maintained. JPMorgan also reset its target following the AI-driven rally, citing supply improvements as a possible source of additional growth.
Neutral Sentiment: Planned insider sale: Director Charles Giancarlo sold 8,000 shares for approximately $1.45 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. He retained 184,333 shares, reducing the transaction’s signaling significance. SEC insider transaction filing
Negative Sentiment: Valuation and margin risks persist: The stock trades at a high earnings multiple after a substantial rally, while gross margin declined to 63.4% from 65.6%. Any slowdown in AI spending, supply-chain disruption or guidance shortfall could lead to volatility.

Arista Networks Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.