Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Upgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Raymond James Financial raised Arista Networks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Arista Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. 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, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Arista Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $289.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of Arista Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-three have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arista Networks has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $226.05.

Arista Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ANET opened at $197.35 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $248.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $171.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $153.43. Arista Networks has a 52-week low of $114.52 and a 52-week high of $214.89.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.65% and a net margin of 38.37%.The firm’s revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. Arista Networks has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.060-1.080 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arista Networks will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jayshree Ullal sold 767,029 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total transaction of $154,341,575.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 16,387,981 shares in the company, valued at $3,297,589,536.82. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kenneth Duda sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.51, for a total transaction of $4,433,260.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 462,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,843,824. The trade was a 5.32% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 3,819,659 shares of company stock valued at $687,397,841 in the last quarter. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arista Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Arista Networks in the second quarter worth $31,000. Sankala Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Prosperity Bancshares Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Arista Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Arista Networks in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. 82.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Arista Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Record Q2 results strengthened the AI infrastructure narrative. Arista reported $3.04 billion in second-quarter revenue, its first quarter above $3 billion, representing 37.7% year-over-year growth and exceeding consensus by approximately $210 million. Non-GAAP EPS of $1.02 also surpassed estimates by $0.13. Strong hyperscaler and AI data-center spending helped drive the results. Arista’s Record Quarter Reignites the AI Networking Debate
• Positive Sentiment: Revenue guidance and component availability are supporting the outlook. Arista continues to raise its revenue expectations as it secures key components. The company appears to be constrained more by parts than customer orders, suggesting demand remains strong if supply agreements hold. Arista Networks Stock Is Waiting on Parts, Not Orders
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment and momentum indicators remain favorable. The average analyst recommendation is “Buy,” while several firms recently increased price targets following the earnings beat. Rising earnings estimates and a roughly 4.6% one-week gain are attracting momentum investors. Short interest also fell 35.6% during July to about 1.0% of shares outstanding, reducing potential selling pressure. Arista Witnesses an Uptrend in Estimate Revision
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation is the central market debate. Arista’s exposure to multiyear AI capital spending, Ethernet expansion and large cloud customers supports its growth prospects. However, elevated earnings multiples mean the stock may require continued earnings beats and strong AI spending to sustain further gains. Arista Networks: Hefty Growth Premium Baked In
• Negative Sentiment: Major shareholder Andreas Bechtolsheim sold 111,848 shares worth about $21.6 million. The sale cut his direct ownership by roughly half, although it occurred under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and therefore may not signal weakening confidence in Arista’s business. Arista Networks Insider Sale

About Arista Networks

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.