Live: Will Arista Networks Beat Q4 Earnings After the Bell?
Quick Read
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Arista Networks (ANET) reports Q4 earnings tonight with $2.39B revenue expected. We will be updating this live blog with news and analysis. Updates will appear automatically below.
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Cisco secured $2.1B in AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers in Q2. This directly challenges Arista’s position but also shows strong industry-wide tailwinds.
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Arista’s 2026 guidance is the critical focus given the 43x forward earnings multiple.
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Live Updates
Arista Raises 2026 Targets and Says Margins Will Remain Strong
Arista shares kept rising during the company’s call and here’s the key section to focus on:
“As we have moved through 2025, we have gained visibility and confidence for fiscal year 2026.
As Jayshree mentioned, we are now pleased to raise our 2026 fiscal year outlook to 25% revenue growth, delivering approximately $11.25 billion. We maintain our 2026 campus revenue goal of $1.25 billion and raised our AI centers goal from $2.75 billion to $3.25 billion. For gross margin, we reiterate the range for the fiscal year of 62% to 64% inclusive of mix and anticipated supply chain cost increases for memory and silicon. In terms of spending, we expect to continue to invest in innovation, sales and scaling the business to ensure our status as a leading pure-play networking company.
With our increased revenue guidance, we are now confident to raise the operating margin outlook to approximately 46% in 2026. On the cash front, we will continue to work to optimize our working capital investments with some expected variability in inventory due to the timing of component receipts on purchase commitments.
Our structural tax rate is expected at 21.5% back to the usual historical rate, up from the seasonally lower rate of 18.4% experienced last quarter Q4 ’25.”
Wall Street had expected revenue of $10.9 billion this year.
Arista's Call Has Begun
Arista’s conference call has begun, we’ll be tracking whether there’s any significant movements during it.
3 Highlights from Arista's Q4 Earnings
Arista’s Q4 results reveal strong execution across critical operational metrics investors should monitor.
Revenue Mix Strengthening
Product revenue hit $2.096 billion, up 30.3% year-over-year, while service revenue reached $392.1 million, growing 21.6%. This mix reflects healthy demand for both new deployments and recurring support contracts—customers are expanding existing infrastructure rather than simply replacing equipment.
Operating Leverage in Action
Adjusted operating income grew 30.1% to $1.181 billion, outpacing 29% revenue growth. CFO Chantelle Breithaupt highlighted: “Arista achieved a historic milestone: surpassing $1 billion in quarterly net income.” Operating expenses rose just 23%, demonstrating disciplined cost management even as R&D spending increased 22.2%.
Cash Generation Accelerates
Free cash flow jumped to $4.372 billion, up 17.9%, providing ammunition for continued investment in AI networking capabilities.
Investors Overlook Arista's Declining Gross Margins in Q1
Cisco sold off today in part because of fears of gross margin erosion.
Arista’s earnings call for gross margins of 62% to 63% next quarter, which at the midpoint is below Wall Street expectations of 62.95%.
That’s a slight blemish investors appear willing to overlook as shares are up 8.2% after hours.
Arista Networks Q4: Everything You Need to Know
ANET | Arista Networks Q4’25 Earnings Highlights:
- Adj. EPS: $0.82 (Est. $0.76) [✅]; UP +24.24% YoY
- Revenue: $2.488B (Est. $2.39B); UP +28.9% YoY
- Adj. Gross Margin: 63.4% [✅]; DOWN -50 bps YoY
- Net Income: $955.8M [✅]; UP +19.3% YoY
Q1’26 Outlook:
- Revenue: $2.6B [✅]
- Expectations are driven by continued demand in AI networking and campus expansion.
- Guidance reflects a strong exit rate from 2025, with anticipated growth in both product and service segments.
Q4 Segment Performance:
- Product Revenue: $2.096B [✅]; UP +30.3% YoY
- Service Revenue: $392.1M [✅]; UP +21.6% YoY
Other Key Q4 Metrics:
- Adj. Operating Income: $1.181B [✅]; UP +30.1% YoY
- Adj. Operating Expenses: $530.9M [✅]; UP +23.0% YoY
- R&D Expenses: $348.4M [✅]; UP +22.2% YoY
- Free Cash Flow: $4.372B; UP +17.9% YoY
- Effective Tax Rate: 15.9% (vs. 9.9% YoY)
- Cash and Cash Equivalents: $1.964B
- Marketable Securities: $8.779B
- Inventories: $2.247B
- Accounts Receivable: $1.887B
CEO Commentary:
- Jayshree Ullal: “2025 was the year of validation of our Arista 2.0 momentum, as we hit the milestone of shipping a cumulative of 150 million ports. We exceeded both our AI networking and campus expansion goals, delivering profitable growth and revenue of $9 billion.”
CFO Commentary:
- Chantelle Breithaupt: “Our Q4 results underscore the strong operating leverage inherent in our model, providing a powerful exit rate as we head into 2026. By pairing 29% revenue growth with a disciplined 47.5% operating margin, Arista achieved a historic milestone: surpassing $1 billion in quarterly net income. Congratulations to the team.”
Shares Gains Now Moderating
Arista’s share gains are off the highs, but still up about 5% as Wall Street digests their Q4 earnings.
First Quarter Guidance
Q1 guidance calls for revenue of $2.6 billion, which is above expectations of $2.46 billion.
These appear to be very strong earnings and shares are soaring, now up 8.5%.
Arista's Earnings Are Out: Here are the Most Important Figures
Arista’s earnings were just released and here are the most need-to-know figures:
- EPS: $.82
- Revenue: $2.49 billion
As a reminder, here’s what Wall Street expected:
| Metric | Q4 2025 Estimate | YoY Growth | FY 2025 Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | $0.76 | 17% | $2.87 |
| Revenue | $2.39 billion | ~24% | $8.9 billion |
The stock’s initial movement is up around 2%.
Earnings Expected at 4:05 p.m. ET
We expect that investors won’t have a long wait before Arista’s earnings hit the newswires. We’re expecting them at about 4:05 p.m. ET.
As a reminder, we’ll begin posting news and analysis the moment Arista’s earnings drop. To receive them, simply stay on this page and new updates will post automatically.
Arista Shares Down 3.8% Today
Shares of Arista Networks are down 3.8% today following Cisco’s earnings last night.
While Cisco reported strong AI bookings, their guidance points to margin erosion from memory pricing. Wall Street was quick to sell off the report, and shares of Cisco are down 13% today.
We’ll see if the Street is more favorable to Arista tonight.
Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) reports Q4 2025 earnings tonight after the bell. After a year of strong AI infrastructure momentum, I’ll be watching whether management can justify the premium valuation and deliver guidance that keeps the hyperscaler spending story intact.
What Wall Street Expects
| Metric | Q4 2025 Estimate | YoY Growth | FY 2025 Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | $0.76 | 17% | $2.87 |
| Revenue | $2.39 billion | ~24% | $8.9 billion |
The consensus sits near the high end of management’s $2.3 to $2.4 billion revenue guidance. That’s a setup for either a beat that drives the stock higher or an in-line print that disappoints given the 53x trailing PE ratio.
Last Quarter Set a High Bar
Q3 results came in strong. Revenue of $2.31 billion beat estimates by $42 million, growing 27.5% year over year. EPS of $0.75 topped the $0.71 consensus. Gross margin came in at 64.6%, though management guided Q4 margins down to 62% to 63%.
The stock has climbed 5.3% over the past week and sits 23.6% higher year over year. That momentum reflects confidence, but it also means expectations are elevated heading into the print.
Hyperscaler Spending and AI Infrastructure Demand
I’ll be focused on whether Arista can sustain its position as the AI networking infrastructure play. The company’s success depends heavily on hyperscaler customers like Meta, Microsoft, and Google continuing to pour capital into data center buildouts. Recent announcements from these cloud titans signal massive spending plans, but Arista needs to show it’s capturing that demand without margin erosion.
Competition from Cisco matters here. Cisco just reported $2.1 billion in AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers in Q2 FY2026, with networking product orders accelerating to over 20% growth. That’s a direct challenge to Arista’s dominance in this space. If Arista’s guidance suggests share loss or pricing pressure, the stock could give back recent gains quickly.
Perhaps most troubling is that even with strong AI orders, Cisco’s shares are down 12% today.
Analysts at Rosenblatt raised their price target to $165, citing favorable developments at Meta and Microsoft’s shift toward Ethernet-driven AI workloads. But insider selling totaling $27.55 million over the past 90 days raises questions about whether management sees the current valuation as stretched.
The Guidance Question
Tonight’s report matters less for Q4 results and more for what management says about 2026. If Arista raises full-year guidance and confirms that hyperscaler spending remains strong, the premium valuation holds. If guidance comes in cautious or management flags customer concentration risk, you’ll see the stock reprice quickly. At 43x forward earnings, there’s little room for disappointment.
Eric Bleeker has been investing for more than 20 years. He began his career working at Microsoft before joining Motley Fool, one of the largest publishers of financial research. In his 15 years at Motley Fool Eric served as the General Manager for Fool.com and led coverage in the Technology & Telecom sector. In addition, he was a featured columnist and has hosted dozens of investing seminars attended by more than a million total investors. Eric has more than 1,000 financial bylines to his name and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Fox Business, and many other leading publications. He is currently focused on artificial intelligence investing and is a CFA Charterholoder.
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