NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.14 EPS

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The technology company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.14, FiscalAI reports. NetScout Systems had a return on equity of 8.16% and a net margin of 10.38%.The business had revenue of $250.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $233.69 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. NetScout Systems updated its FY 2026 guidance to 2.370-2.450 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from NetScout Systems’ conference call:

• Q3 results beat expectations — revenue of $250.7M and diluted EPS of $1 (up ~6% YoY), with nine-month revenue of ~$656M (up ~6%) and management raising the midpoint of FY26 top- and bottom-line guidance.
• Product and customer momentum in cybersecurity and service assurance — cybersecurity revenue grew ~9% YTD and service assurance ~4.8%, with major wins (mid/low seven‑figure to mid/high seven‑figure deals) and new AI-enabled offerings like Omnis AI Sensor/Streamer and the nGenius Edge Sensor 795.
• Healthy balance sheet and cash flow — $586.2M in cash, equivalents and investments, $59.4M free cash flow in the quarter, no borrowings on the $600M revolver, and continued share repurchase capacity.
• Revenue timing variability and order pull‑ins — management said roughly $15M of orders were pulled into Q3 from future quarters, creating potential unevenness in future quarter comparisons despite the raised midpoint guidance.
• Supply‑chain, collections and customer concentration risks — server/component lead times and modest tariff effects could delay customer deployments, days sales outstanding rose to 82 days (from 75), and one customer and one channel partner each accounted for ~10% of Q3 revenue.

NetScout Systems Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of NetScout Systems stock traded down $0.90 during trading on Thursday, reaching $27.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 343,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 433,297. NetScout Systems has a 52-week low of $18.12 and a 52-week high of $30.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $27.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.94. The company has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.57 and a beta of 0.64.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTCT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NetScout Systems in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of NetScout Systems from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetScout Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetScout Systems

In other news, Director Christopher Perretta sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.01, for a total value of $280,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 40,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,144,656.66. The trade was a 19.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Sanjay Munshi sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.23, for a total value of $54,460.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $170,296.42. This represents a 24.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 3.82% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetScout Systems

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in NetScout Systems by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,420,479 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,844,000 after purchasing an additional 207,807 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 1,361.1% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 747,824 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,316,000 after buying an additional 696,643 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in NetScout Systems by 63.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 724,165 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,945,000 after buying an additional 279,847 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in NetScout Systems in the third quarter worth about $16,091,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in NetScout Systems by 235.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 578,608 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $14,355,000 after acquiring an additional 406,004 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About NetScout Systems

NetScout Systems, Inc is a leading provider of network performance management, service assurance and cybersecurity solutions. The company designs and delivers hardware and software platforms that capture and analyze real-time and historical packet data, enabling IT teams and service providers to monitor application performance, troubleshoot network issues and defend against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. NetScout’s flagship offerings include the nGeniusONE service assurance platform and the InfiniStream packet broker, which together provide end-to-end visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts, NetScout has built a reputation for scalable and resilient monitoring infrastructure.