Arista Networks
🔔 Watch stock
Assessment
Our Rating
A journalistic assessment by our editorial team at the time of the deep dive — it rates the company, not the entry point. Not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell.
The business works in principle, but one material question is open. As long as it stays open, our findings do not carry a quality verdict.
Why this colour
Quality and balance sheet are beyond question at Arista — the business model, margin and capital structure are as solid as almost any company in this series. The light sits at yellow because the result operationally hinges on the investment cycles of two large customers (42 percent of 2025 revenue) and because the $9.7 billion purchase commitments would make a demand slowdown expensive — both are material open operational questions, not a substance risk. The light rates the company, not the stock price: that the valuation (P/E around 60) leaves no margin of safety is a price argument and does not change this rating. The decision is yours.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Arista Networks is the extrapolation trap in its purest form: five straight years of uninterrupted growth, a net margin around 39 percent, zero financial debt, and a management team that has consistently beaten its own AI targets. The same filings, though, show what that's built on: 42 percent of revenue from two customers, $9.7 billion in non-cancelable purchase commitments, and near-total reliance on chip supplier Broadcom — at a valuation (P/E around 60) that leaves no margin of safety for any of the three. Not investment advice.
Market Position & Business Model
Market leader in high-speed Ethernet switches for data centers, with its own EOS operating system as a moat and more than 10,000 customers worldwide. The "Centers of Data" strategy covers data center, AI cluster, campus and WAN from a single platform.
Growth & Profitability
Revenue has more than tripled since 2021 ($2.9 to $9.0 billion, 2025), at a net margin of roughly 39 percent (2025). Q2 2026 was the company's first-ever $3 billion quarter, at $3,035.7 million (+37.7 percent).
Balance Sheet
$13.3 billion in liquidity and zero financial debt as of June 30, 2026. A $1.5 billion share buyback program went unused in the first half of 2026, leaving room for future capital allocation.
Customer Concentration
Two customers — Microsoft and Meta Platforms, based on a year-by-year comparison — bought a combined 42 percent of 2025 revenue (26% plus 16%). The annual report itself warns of unpredictable ordering behavior from these large customers.
AI-Cycle Bet
$9.7 billion in non-cancelable purchase obligations (6/30/2026, nearly tripled in twelve months) against a gross margin that has already fallen from 65.2 to 62.9 percent — a binding bet on an uninterrupted AI investment cycle.
Worth Noting
Arista Networks landed on our research list via the calendar: the second-quarter 2026 earnings release (8-K of 8/4/2026) and the quarterly report (10-Q, filed 8/5/2026) — the company's first-ever $3 billion quarter.
The customer names Microsoft and Meta Platforms are anonymized in the current annual report (10-K 2025); the identification rests on a year-by-year comparison with the 2024 annual report (10-K), which still names them.
Valuation figures (market cap roughly $243 billion, P/E roughly 60, P/S roughly 23) are as of 8/8/2026 and should be read as evergreen — not a buy signal, just a dated anchor.
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of August 26, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at ANET since then.
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Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
52-week range: 116.10 $ to 210.50 $ · Last price: 199.50 $ (As of: September 17, 2026)
Key figures
Key figures at a glance
Every figure we hold for this stock, grouped by topic. The question mark next to a label explains what the number means.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 09/18/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
This stock currently pays no dividend.
Quality & Screener
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Comparison
Industry comparison
The stock alongside the largest companies in the same group. The median row is the middle value of the companies shown above — not of the whole industry.
Industry: Computer Hardware
| Company | Market cap ($B) | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross Margin % | EBIT Margin % | Sales Growth (Year) % | Perf. 1Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arista Networks ANET | 270.3 | 67.4 | 51.4 | 63.0 | 42.7 | 28.6 | 39.7 |
| Dell Technologies Inc DELL | 365.2 | 44.0 | 20.2 | 19.9 | 8.9 | 18.8 | 357.2 |
| Sandisk Corp SNDK | 276.8 | 55.8 | 17.7 | 71.5 | 70.0 | 10.4 | 1,618.0 |
| Seagate Technology PLC STX | 182.0 | 56.2 | 43.1 | 45.6 | 43.1 | 34.1 | 274.0 |
| Western Digital Corporation WDC | 159.6 | 22.4 | 15.4 | 48.9 | 37.0 | 50.7 | 320.7 |
| Everpure, Inc. P | 34.6 | 162.4 | 72.5 | 69.7 | -18.5 | 15.6 | 21.2 |
| HP Inc HPQ | 31.6 | 13.2 | 8.8 | 19.7 | 7.1 | 3.2 | 30.6 |
| Super Micro Computer Inc SMCI | 27.8 | 20.0 | 9.6 | 10.8 | 6.1 | 47.0 | -10.1 |
| IONQ Inc IONQ | 15.2 | 97.6 | -10.3 | 30.9 | -401.8 | 201.9 | -38.4 |
| Median of companies shown | 159.6 | 55.8 | 17.7 | 45.6 | 8.9 | 28.6 | 39.7 |
Based on the most recently reported figures. Only stocks from the same trading venue are lined up, so the market caps are counted in one currency. Compare in a chart →
Fiscal years
Annual Figures
Fiscal years from the audited annual reports, oldest first. EBIT is the operating profit before interest and taxes; total assets are everything the company owns.
Revenue, operating income and net income per fiscal year $M
Revenue Operating income Net income
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,129 | 243 | 184 | 0.16 | 131 | 1,108 | 1,729 |
| 2017 | 1,646 | 470 | 423 | 0.33 | 632 | 1,662 | 2,461 |
| 2018 | 2,151 | 273 | 328 | 0.25 | 503 | 2,143 | 3,082 |
| 2019 | 2,411 | 806 | 860 | 0.66 | 963 | 2,895 | 4,185 |
| 2020 | 2,318 | 700 | 635 | 0.50 | 735 | 3,320 | 4,739 |
| 2021 | 2,948 | 925 | 841 | 0.66 | 1,016 | 3,979 | 5,734 |
| 2022 | 4,381 | 1,527 | 1,352 | 1.07 | 493 | 4,886 | 6,775 |
| 2023 | 5,860 | 2,257 | 2,087 | 1.65 | 2,034 | 7,219 | 9,947 |
| 2024 | 7,003 | 2,945 | 2,852 | 2.23 | 3,708 | 9,995 | 14,044 |
| 2025 | 9,006 | 3,856 | 3,511 | 2.75 | 4,372 | 12,371 | 19,449 |
Quarters
Quarterly Figures
Each bar is one quarter, the last one is the most recent. Use the switch to step through the individual figures.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
None of the selected stocks reports this metric. Pick another metric or switch between annual and quarterly.
· Total · per year
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The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 0.62 | 29.70 | 1,930 | 25.30 | 41.50 | 1,031 | 1,019 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.64 | 27.60 | 2,005 | 27.60 | 40.60 | 642 | 613 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.70 | 34.50 | 2,205 | 30.40 | 40.30 | 1,200 | 1,176 |
| 2025: Q3 | 0.67 | 14.50 | 2,308 | 27.50 | 37.00 | 1,268 | 1,238 |
| 2025: Q4 | 0.75 | 20.00 | 2,488 | 28.90 | 38.40 | 1,262 | 1,225 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.80 | 26.20 | 2,709 | 35.10 | 37.80 | 1,694 | 1,639 |
| 2026: Q2 | 0.95 | 35.70 | 3,036 | 37.70 | 40.00 | 1,083 | 1,053 |
What Do These Terms Mean?
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Screening
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 3 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Growth
Quality & Balance Sheet
Research
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. View all scanners
Outlook
Analysts & Price Target
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Distribution of Recommendations
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | 4.11 | 4.05 – 4.22 | 12,666 | 38.0% | 27 |
| 12/31/2027 | 5.16 | 4.40 – 5.73 | 16,156 | 25.5% | 28 |
Average of the analyst estimates for the coming fiscal years. The range shows how far the most optimistic and the most cautious estimate sit apart — the wider it is, the less certain the expectation.
Valuation
What is priced in?
Instead of guessing what the stock is worth, we turn the question around: what free cash flow growth has to happen for today’s market value to add up? The assumptions behind it can be moved.
Today’s market value implies roughly 20.9% growth in free cash flow per year over ten years (assumptions: discount rate 10.0%, terminal growth 2.5%).
| Free cash flow (last twelve months) | $5.16B |
|---|---|
| Market cap | $270.35B |
| Free cash flow in year ten | $34.28B |
| Terminal value as a share of market value | 66.8% |
For comparison: over the past five years free cash flow grew by 42.7% per year.
It shows which assumption is built into today’s price, not whether that assumption will hold. Every assumption can be changed with the sliders; the figures move with them.
A simplified model calculation — not a forecast and not a recommendation.
AI classification
AI Rating
Arista beschreibt sein Kerngeschäft laut Quartalsbericht (10-Q) selbst als „Centers of Data“-Strategie, die das Netzwerk in vier Bereiche gliedert — darunter ausdrücklich „AI Centers“ — und verkauft mit den neuen 1,6-Tbps-KI-Fabric-Plattformen konkrete Produkte für KI-Rechencluster.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„Our “Centers of Data” strategy is a fundamental pivot from legacy, siloed networking to a unified, data-driven approach in which the network is a service that interconnects four primary domains: AI Centers, Data Centers, Campus Centers, and WAN Centers."
Unsere „Centers of Data“-Strategie ist eine grundlegende Abkehr von veralteten, isolierten Netzwerken hin zu einem einheitlichen, datengetriebenen Ansatz, bei dem das Netzwerk ein Dienst ist, der vier Kernbereiche miteinander verbindet: KI-Zentren, Rechenzentren, Campus-Zentren und WAN-Zentren.
10-Q · 2026-08-05 · View SEC filing
„Introduced 1.6 Tbps AI fabric platforms, including liquid-cooled options optimized for scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across networks."
Führte 1,6-Tbps-KI-Fabric-Plattformen ein, darunter flüssigkeitsgekühlte Varianten, optimiert für Scale-up-, Scale-out- und Scale-across-Netzwerke.
8-K · 2026-08-04 · View SEC filing
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-08-05 · 8-K 2026-08-04 · 10-K 2026-02-17
Rated on August 7, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Growth
Growth Score
Ten checks against the annual reports — each one passed counts a point.
- Revenue grows by more than 15% a year over three years 27.1%
- More than 10% revenue growth is expected for the coming year 23.7%
- Share count grows by less than 3% a year 0.3%
- Revenue growth plus cash-flow margin add up to at least 40 ("Rule of 40") 75.8%
- Gross margin at 40% or higher and without meaningful erosion 64.1%
- Goodwill from acquisitions does not grow faster than revenue 2.1%
- Net debt below twice EBITDA 10,743 m net cash
- Operating cash flow covers the profits of the last three years 1,663 m
- Return on capital at 15% or higher, or up versus two years ago 27.4%
- Insiders hold at least 10% or are net buyers 17.3%
A criterion without figures counts neither as passed nor as failed; a score is only produced from 7 judgeable criteria upwards. Source: fundamental data. All ten criteria in detail
Quality check
AAQS
9/10 Quality stockThe AAQS (AlleAktien Quality Score) checks 10 quality criteria on growth, profitability, and balance-sheet strength — per the methodology developed and published by AlleAktien, calculated by us from our own fundamental data. A stock counts as a quality stock from 9 out of 10 points. Where a company has a shorter listing history, we calculate over the fiscal years available (at least five).
- Sales growth 10Y > 5% 25.9%
- Exp. sales growth 3Y > 5% 33.9%
- EBIT growth 10Y > 5% 35.9%
- Exp. EBIT growth 3Y > 5% 36.9%
- Net debt < 4x EBIT –
- EBIT positive, 10Y straight 10
- Max. EBIT decline < 50% 41.9%
- Return on equity > 15% 29.4%
- ROCE > 15% 27.4%
- Expected return > 10% 39.1%
View stocks with the full AAQS score · Read the methodology at AlleAktien
Source: fundamental data
Insiders
Insider Transactions
Reportable transactions by officers and major shareholders from SEC Form 4 filings. "Other" includes things like stock grants and option exercises without a buy/sell character.
| Date | Person | Role | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 10, 2026 | Duda Kenneth | President and CTO | Other | 57,232 | 0.00 | – |
| Sep 10, 2026 | Duda Kenneth | President and CTO | Other | 28,616 | 0.00 | – |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Templeton Mark B | Director | Sell | 300 | 199.32 | 59,795 |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Templeton Mark B | Director | Sell | 1,700 | 198.44 | 337,344 |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Templeton Mark B | Director | Sell | 1,000 | 197.46 | 197,460 |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Templeton Mark B | Director | Sell | 700 | 196.20 | 137,339 |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Templeton Mark B | Director | Sell | 1,300 | 195.27 | 253,850 |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Duda Kenneth | President and CTO | Other | 200,000 | 0.00 | – |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Duda Kenneth | President and CTO | Other | 100,000 | 0.00 | – |
| Sep 1, 2026 | Breithaupt Chantelle Yvette | Senior Vice President, CFO | Sell | 612 | 195.77 | 119,811 |
The company
About the Company
Arista Networks, Inc. entwickelt, vermarktet und verkauft datengesteuerte Client-to-Cloud-Netzwerklösungen für KI-, Rechenzentrums-, Campus- und Routing-Umgebungen in Nord- und Südamerika, Europa, dem Nahen Osten, Afrika und dem asiatisch-pazifischen Raum.
- CEO Insider Trades (12 Mo.)
- selling own stock
- Employees
- 5,115
- Headquarters
- Santa Clara, CA
- Address
- 5453 Great America Parkway, 95054 Santa Clara, United States
- Phone
- 408 547 5500
- Website
- arista.com
- IPO Date
- 06/06/2014
- ISIN
- US0404132054
- Stock Split
- 4:1 on 12/04/2024
- Stock Split
- 4:1 on 11/18/2021
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Jayshree V. Ullal | CEO & Chairperson | 1961 |
| Kenneth Duda Ph.D. | Co-Founder, President, CTO & Director | 1972 |
| Todd Nightingale | President & COO | 1980 |
| Chantelle Y. Breithaupt | Senior VP & CFO | 1972 |
| Andreas B. Bechtolsheim Ph.D. | Co-Founder & Chief Architect | 1955 |
| Sean Christofferson | VP & General Counsel | – |
| Mark Foss | Senior Vice President of Global Operations & Marketing | – |
| Christopher Schmidt | Chief Sales Officer | – |
| Isabelle Bertin-Bailly | Group Vice President of Worldwide Human Resources & Operations | – |
| Hugh Holbrook | Chief Development Officer | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Filings
Company Filings (8-K)
An 8-K is the filing a US company must use to disclose material events immediately — takeovers, changes at the top, major contracts or payment troubles, for instance. The links open the original document at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- 08/04/2026 Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET): Results of Operations and Financial Condition; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
Data as of: September 17, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.