Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Releases Q3 2026 Earnings Guidance

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) updated its third quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 1.060-1.080 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 0.890. The company issued revenue guidance of $3.3 billion-$3.3 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.9 billion.

Arista Networks Trading Up 5.1%

Shares of ANET stock traded up $9.78 on Wednesday, hitting $200.29. 12,508,653 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,645,143. The firm has a market capitalization of $252.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $168.68 and a 200 day moving average of $151.16. Arista Networks has a fifty-two week low of $114.52 and a fifty-two week high of $214.89.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.13. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.10% and a net margin of 38.32%.The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. Arista Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ANET shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial set a $175.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $181.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arista Networks has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $221.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arista Networks news, major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 260,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.57, for a total transaction of $43,048,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 182,543,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,223,652,457.36. This represents a 0.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.08, for a total transaction of $4,482,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,678.08. This represents a 71.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,300,316 shares of company stock worth $382,160,575. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Arista Networks News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results exceeded expectations: Arista reported adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share, versus the $0.89 analyst consensus, while revenue reached $3.04 billion—up 37.7% year over year and above the $2.83 billion estimate. It was the company’s first quarter with revenue above $3 billion. Arista Networks Q2 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: AI demand is supporting growth: Management cited strong orders across AI infrastructure, cloud data centers, campus networks and routing. The company is also introducing 1.6-terabit-per-second AI networking systems designed to improve performance and reduce power consumption. Arista Forecasts Upbeat Quarterly Revenue on AI-Driven Networking Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Guidance was well above consensus: Arista projected third-quarter revenue of approximately $3.3 billion and EPS of $1.06–$1.08, compared with Wall Street estimates of about $2.9 billion and $0.89, respectively. It also raised its 2026 revenue outlook to $12.6 billion for the third time as supply availability improves and allows more shipments. Arista Projects $12.6 Billion 2026 Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment strengthened: Rosenblatt Securities raised its price target from $210 to $280 and maintained a Buy rating, reflecting confidence in Arista’s AI networking opportunity and revised growth outlook. Analysts Boost Forecasts After Upbeat Q2 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and execution risks remain: After the rally, ANET carries a high earnings multiple and a market capitalization above $250 billion, leaving the stock vulnerable if AI infrastructure spending slows, supply improvements disappoint or results fail to support elevated expectations.

Institutional Trading of Arista Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 69.8% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,377,685 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $442,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387,902 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Arista Networks by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,346,710 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $962,639,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085,647 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 95.4% during the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 1,329,442 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $174,197,000 after purchasing an additional 649,076 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 28.7% during the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 2,673,388 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $273,514,000 after purchasing an additional 596,895 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,573,270 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,123,356,000 after purchasing an additional 433,742 shares during the period. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arista Networks Company Profile

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.