F5 Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Cybersecurity Incident, Shares Plunge 13.9%

Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst

FFIV-0.85%

Source: Globenewswire

Updated: 2h ago

0mins

Source: Globenewswire

Cybersecurity Incident Disclosure: On October 15, 2025, F5 revealed a cybersecurity breach from August 9, 2025, involving a nation-state actor, which caused shares to plummet 13.9% over two trading days, indicating a severe loss of investor confidence in the company's security measures.
Financial Guidance Downgrade: In its Q4 2025 earnings report, F5 projected revenue growth for 2026 at only 0% to 4%, significantly lower than the 10% growth in 2025, attributing this slowdown to potential impacts from the cybersecurity incident that may delay customer decision-making.
Legal Liability Investigation: Hagens Berman is investigating whether F5 timely disclosed the cybersecurity incident's impact to investors, and if any wrongdoing is found, it could lead to greater legal and financial repercussions for the company.
Investor Confidence Erosion: F5's assertion that the incident had “no material impact” on operations has raised doubts among investors regarding its transparency and management capabilities, potentially affecting future financing and market performance.

FFIV

$256.91+Infinity%1D

Analyst Views on FFIV

Wall Street analysts forecast FFIV stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for FFIV is 287.56 USD with a low forecast of 260.00 USD and a high forecast of 320.00 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.

10 Analyst Rating

1 Buy

8 Hold

1 Sell

Hold

Current: 259.110

Low

260.00

Averages

287.56

High

320.00

Current: 259.110

Low

260.00

Averages

287.56

High

320.00

Morgan Stanley

Equal Weight

downgrade

$336 -> $296

2025-12-17

New

Reason

Morgan Stanley

Price Target

$336 -> $296

2025-12-17

New

downgrade

Equal Weight

Reason

Morgan Stanley lowered the firm's price target on F5 to $296 from $336 and keeps an Equal Weight 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.

Morgan Stanley

Equal Weight

maintain

$336

2025-11-13

Reason

Morgan Stanley

Price Target

$336

2025-11-13

maintain

Equal Weight

Reason

Morgan Stanley keeps an Equal Weight rating and $336 price target on F5 while noting that a reseller that the firm spoke with now sees the company's security breach as a potential headwind to its Q2 performance given customer concern around severity of breach and slowing deal pipeline. The reseller believes however that these deals are delayed rather than lost given the limited alternatives in the market.

BofA

Underperform

downgrade

$260 -> $250

2025-10-28

Reason

BofA

Price Target

$260 -> $250

2025-10-28

downgrade

Underperform

Reason

BofA lowered the firm's price target on F5 to $250 from $260 and keeps an Underperform rating on the shares. Management attributes its lower FY26 revenue growth guidance to the recent security breach, but the firm also flags tough comps for Systems sales and weak Software trends throughout the year as it reduces estimates following the company's earnings report.

Evercore ISI

Amit Daryanani

In Line

downgrade

$320 -> $280

2025-10-28

Reason

Evercore ISI

Amit Daryanani

Price Target

$320 -> $280

2025-10-28

downgrade

In Line

Reason

Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani lowered the firm's price target on F5 to $280 from $320 and keeps an In Line rating on the shares. FFIV delivered "a solid beat" for the September quarter, but the outlook for the December quarter and FY26 "appears less promising" due to challenges stemming from a recent security breach, the analyst tells investors in a post-earnings note. Investors are likely to adopt a cautious stance and wait to see if F5 can effectively navigate the breach impact without broader revenue or EPS setbacks, the analyst contends.

About FFIV

F5, Inc. is a provider of multi-cloud application security and delivery solutions. The Company enables its customers to deploy, operate, secure, optimize, and govern every application and application programming interface (API) across any architecture, on-premises, in the cloud, at the edge and across hybrid, multi-cloud environments. Its enterprise-grade application services are available as hardware, software, and software-as-a-service solutions optimized for hybrid, multicloud environments, with modules that can run independently, or as part of an integrated solution on its high-performance appliances. Through its BIG-IP, F5 NGINX and F5 Distributed Cloud Services products, it offers a range of integrated, artificial intelligence- and machine learning-driven solutions that support performance and protect applications and APIs across data center, cloud, and edge locations. Its products and solutions also include F5 Distributed Cloud CDN and F5 NGINX Ingress Controller, among 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.