Arista Networks Leads the S&P 500 Today, but the Reason Remains Uncertain.

Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst

ANET+2.07%

CIEN+6.58%

CSCO+2.17%

Source: Barron's

Updated: 5d ago

0mins

Source: Barron's

Stock Movement: Arista Networks' stock experienced a significant spike on Thursday.
Unclear Catalyst: The reason behind the stock's big move was not immediately apparent.

ANET

$146.69+Infinity%1D

Analyst Views on ANET

Wall Street analysts forecast ANET stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ANET is 171.42 USD with a low forecast of 140.00 USD and a high forecast of 200.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

15 Analyst Rating

13 Buy

2 Hold

0 Sell

Strong Buy

Current: 143.720

Low

140.00

Averages

171.42

High

200.00

Current: 143.720

Low

140.00

Averages

171.42

High

200.00

BofA

Tal Liani

Buy -> Neutral

downgrade

$260

2026-01-20

Reason

BofA

Tal Liani

Price Target

$260

AI Analysis

2026-01-20

downgrade

Buy -> Neutral

Reason

As previously reported, BofA analyst Tal Liani downgraded Ciena (CIEN) to Neutral from Buy with an unchanged price target of $260 despite additional revenue growth upside. The firm's focus instead is on downside risk to peaking backlog levels, high expectations, and a rich valuation with Ciena's stock up about 200% in the last year, the analyst tells investors. The cycles are strong and backed by robust backlog and deferred revenue, so the firm could see both Ciena and Arista (ANET) reporting better than expected growth, but questions "will it matter?"

Piper Sandler

Neutral

Overweight

upgrade

$145 -> $159

2026-01-05

Reason

Piper Sandler

Price Target

$145 -> $159

2026-01-05

upgrade

Neutral

Overweight

Reason

Piper Sandler upgraded Arista Networks (ANET) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $159, up from $145. With 2026 positioned as a "Year of Refresh," rising enterprise investment, hyperscaler and AI exposure, and a conservative setup at a reasonable valuation are improving model visibility, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Despite concerns around share shifts to whitebox and Nvidia (NVDA) and the broader capex/AI cycle, Arista appears to be holding share, gaining large enterprise customers, and benefiting from typically lagged capex trends, the firm says.

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Piper Sandler

Neutral -> Overweight

upgrade

$145 -> $159

2026-01-04

Reason

Piper Sandler

Price Target

$145 -> $159

2026-01-04

upgrade

Neutral -> Overweight

Reason

Piper Sandler upgraded Arista Networks to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $159, up from $145.

Morgan Stanley

Overweight

downgrade

$171 -> $159

2025-12-17

Reason

Morgan Stanley

Price Target

$171 -> $159

2025-12-17

downgrade

Overweight

Reason

Morgan Stanley lowered the firm's price target on Arista Networks to $159 from $171 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The AI trade broadened out from semi names in 2025, helping infrastructure names, particularly within optical, notes the analyst, who believes that trade can continue, particularly in optical, through the first half of 2026. However, investors will "need to get more selective for full year returns given multiples," the analyst added in a year-ahead note on the group.

About ANET

Arista Networks, Inc. is a provider of data-driven, client-to-cloud networking for large artificial intelligence (AI), data center, campus and routing environments. Its platforms deliver availability, agility, automation, analytics, and security through an advanced network operating stack. Its platform is its Extensible Operating System (EOS), a modernized publish-subscribe state-sharing networking operating system. Its portfolio of products, services and technologies is grouped into various categories: Core (Data Center, Cloud and AI Networking), Cognitive Adjacencies (Campus and Routing), and Cognitive Network (Software and Services). It offers product portfolios of data-driven, high-speed, cloud and data center Ethernet switches. Its Cognitive Adjacencies include Cognitive Campus Switching, Cloud-Grade Routing and WAN Routing. Its software and services are based on subscription-based models and include various offerings: CloudVision, Arista A-Care Services, CloudEOS and others.

About the author

Emily J. Thompson

Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.