WinstonWınston
F5 logo

F5

0IL6.L
67
Software - Application · Technology
Price
417.31 GBp
-0.26 (-0.06%)
Market Cap
£23.54B
Exchange
London Stock Exchange
Winston Score
67
Winston is curious
A decent business — some strong pillars, some weaker.
Data as of Aug 12, 2026 · filings through Jun 30, 2026

Share count falling — buybacks

5.9% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 62.1M (2021) → 58.4M (2025)

F5, Inc. makes software and hardware that helps companies keep their websites and apps running fast, safe, and available. Its main products manage and secure the flow of internet traffic between users and the servers that run applications. Large banks, hospitals, government agencies, and big corporations are its core customers.

F5 earns money through a mix of software subscriptions, hardware sales, and ongoing support contracts. It operates globally, with a strong presence in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, and generates roughly $2.8 billion in annual revenue. Its moat comes from deep integration into customers' existing IT infrastructure, which makes switching to a competitor costly and time-consuming. The key growth driver is the shift toward software-based and cloud-delivered security products, which carry higher margins than traditional hardware — but the risk is that large cloud providers like AWS and Microsoft are building competing traffic-management tools directly into their own platforms.

Winston Score History

Growth Profile

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+10.9% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady revenue growth

EPS Growth

+11.6% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady EPS growth

R&D Spend

$540M/ year

Rising (+11% vs prior year)

17.5% of revenue

In line with sector average (15%)

Investing heavily in future products and technology

Insider Activity

1.0%ownership

Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$1.9B cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↑ Burn rate improving

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Heavy R&D investment

F5 is putting 17% of revenue into R&D and that number is rising. And they're generating enough cash to self-fund it.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

Each metric is explained in plain language so you know exactly what you're looking at. Start your free trial now.

Quality

Gross Margin
83.4%
Premium pricing power — 83.4% gross margin
Operating Margin
24.6%
Excellent — 24.6% operating margin
ROCE
5.5%
Weak — 5.5% return on capital

ROIC between 5% and 15%. They earn 5 to 15 cents back per year on every dollar invested.

Full breakdown available with your free trial

See every metric, trend, and what it means for this stock.

Try free

Growth

Sales YoY
+9.4%
Steady sales growth (+9.4% YoY)
EPS YoY
+10.6%
Earnings growing (+10.6% YoY)

Healthy double-digit earnings growth — what compounders look like.

EPS Consistency
8/8 quarters
Every recent quarter grew earnings vs last year

Full breakdown available with your free trial

See every metric, trend, and what it means for this stock.

Try free

Cash Flow

Cash Conversion
144%
Turns 144% of profit into real cash
FCF Margin
29.3%
Converts sales into free cash efficiently (29.3%)

Free cash flow margin above 20%. Out of every $100 in sales, more than $20 is real cash they keep.

Full breakdown available with your free trial

See every metric, trend, and what it means for this stock.

Try free

Stability

Debt / Equity
0.01
Conservative — low debt load (0.01)
Interest Cover
100.00x
Comfortably covers interest (100.0x)

Interest coverage above 8. Profits cover interest many times over.

Full breakdown available with your free trial

See every metric, trend, and what it means for this stock.

Try free

Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)
0.3x
Attractive valuation — P/E 0.3

P/E under 10. The price tag is small relative to last year's profit.

P/E vs Forward
-22.8
SLOWING
Earnings expected to fall — forward P/E higher than today

Full breakdown available with your free trial

See every metric, trend, and what it means for this stock.

Try free

Dividends

Not applicable for this business.
🔒 See full fundamentals and if they are improving or declining — click here for your free trial now.
Start free trial