Here are 1-2 brief analogies to describe F5 (FFIV) to someone unfamiliar with it:

• Think of F5 as a more specialized **Cisco**, focused intensely on ensuring enterprise applications are delivered fast, reliably, and securely.

• They are also like a **Palo Alto Networks** or **Fortinet** for optimizing and securing critical applications.

• BIG-IP Application Delivery & Security Platform: Provides advanced traffic management, load balancing, web application firewall (WAF), and access management for on-premise and cloud applications.
• F5 Distributed Cloud Services: A SaaS platform offering security, delivery, and observability for applications deployed across multi-cloud, hybrid-cloud, and edge environments.
• NGINX Solutions: Software offerings for high-performance load balancing, API management, web serving, and application security, popular for modern, containerized applications.

F5, Inc. (symbol: FFIV) primarily sells its application security, delivery, and performance solutions to other companies and large organizations (Business-to-Business, or B2B), rather than directly to individuals.

Due to the nature of its business and its broad customer base, F5 typically does not disclose the names of its individual major customers in its public filings. According to its financial reports, no single customer accounts for 10% or more of its total revenue. Instead, F5 serves a diverse range of enterprise-level organizations across various industries globally.

F5's major customer categories include:

• Large Enterprises Across Diverse Industries: This encompasses major corporations that require robust application security, high availability, and efficient delivery for their critical applications and digital services. Key sectors include:
  • Financial Services: Banks, investment firms, and insurance companies.
  • Telecommunications: Major telecom operators and service providers.
  • Healthcare: Hospitals, healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical companies.
  • Technology and Software Companies: Cloud providers, SaaS companies, and other tech firms.
  • Retail and E-commerce: Large retailers managing online transactions and customer data.
  • Manufacturing and Energy: Companies undergoing digital transformation requiring secure IT and operational technology (OT) infrastructure.
• Government Agencies: Federal, state, and local government entities worldwide that utilize F5's solutions to secure public services, protect critical infrastructure, and maintain regulatory compliance for their applications.
• Service Providers and Cloud Providers: Companies that offer managed IT services, hosting, or cloud computing platforms to their own customer base. These providers often integrate F5's technology into their infrastructure to deliver resilient, secure, and high-performing services to their clients.

François Locoh-Donou, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director

Mr. Locoh-Donou has served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of F5 since April 2017. Prior to joining F5, he spent 14 years at Ciena Corporation, a networking systems, services, and software company. His roles at Ciena included Chief Operating Officer; Senior Vice President and General Manager, Global Products Group; Vice President, EMEA region; and Vice President, International Sales. He also serves on the board of directors of Synopsys.

Frank Pelzer, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Pelzer joined F5 in 2018. Before F5, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Adaptive Insights, a private company providing cloud-based corporate performance management software. Adaptive Insights was acquired by Workday in 2018. Prior to Adaptive Insights, Mr. Pelzer was Senior Vice President of Business Operations at Akamai Technologies. He also held various leadership positions at SAP AG.

Chad Whalen, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales

Mr. Whalen joined F5 in 2005 and has held various leadership positions within the company, including Senior Vice President of Americas Sales, Vice President of Public Sector Sales, and Senior Director of Service Provider Sales.

Anil Sabharwal, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer

Mr. Sabharwal joined F5 in 2023. Prior to F5, he was Vice President of Product for Google Workspace. He also spent 19 years at Oracle, where he led product and engineering teams.

Gail McLaughlin, Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer

Ms. McLaughlin joined F5 in 2018. She previously held various HR leadership positions at Juniper Networks, Hewlett-Packard, and Agilent Technologies.

The primary emerging threat to F5 (FFIV) comes from the native application delivery and security services offered by hyperscale public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

These cloud providers increasingly offer their own integrated load balancing, web application firewalls (WAFs), and API gateways as core services within their ecosystems. For organizations heavily invested in a specific cloud environment, these native services can be more cost-effective, offer deeper integration, and simplify management compared to deploying third-party virtual appliances or software from vendors like F5.

As enterprises continue their digital transformation journeys and prioritize cloud-native application development, there's a growing inclination to leverage these built-in cloud capabilities, potentially diminishing the demand for F5's traditional application delivery controllers (ADCs) and security solutions, even their virtualized cloud versions.

F5 (symbol: FFIV) operates in significant addressable markets related to application delivery and security, particularly in multi-cloud and API-driven environments. The addressable market sizes for their main products and services on a global scale are as follows:

• Application Security Market: The global application security market was valued at approximately USD 11.76 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to about USD 45.77 billion by 2032. Other estimates for the global application security market size in 2023 range from USD 7.57 billion to USD 37.14 billion, with projections to USD 25.10 billion by 2030 or USD 124.18 billion by 2032.
• API Security Market: A segment within application security, the global API security market size was approximately USD 1.05 billion in 2023 and is expected to expand to USD 10.6 billion by 2032. Another source estimates the global API Security Market size to be USD 1.3 billion in 2023 and projects it to reach USD 6.3 billion by 2030.
• Multi-Cloud Security Market: The global multi-cloud security market was estimated at USD 5.5 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 21.7 billion by 2030. Another estimate places the global multi-cloud security market at USD 4.4 billion in 2022, growing to USD 10.5 billion by 2027.
• Application Delivery Controller (ADC) Market: The global Application Delivery Controller market was valued at approximately USD 3.9 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach USD 13.3 billion by 2032. Other analyses indicate the global ADC market was valued at around USD 3.6 billion to USD 5.0 billion in 2023, with projections to reach USD 8.3 billion by 2028 or USD 22.6 billion by 2033.

Here are 3-5 expected drivers of future revenue growth for F5 (FFIV) over the next 2-3 years:

1. Growth in Software and Subscription Services: F5 is strategically focused on accelerating its software and subscription revenue. This involves a shift away from perpetual licenses towards more recurring revenue models, driven by increased adoption of its software-based application delivery and security solutions.
2. Expansion of Security Solutions: The growing threat landscape and increasing complexity of cyberattacks are driving demand for advanced application security. F5's comprehensive security portfolio, including Web Application Firewall (WAF), bot management, and API security, is expected to be a significant growth driver as organizations seek to protect their critical applications and data.
3. Increased Adoption of Multi-Cloud and Cloud-Native Solutions: As enterprises continue to embrace hybrid and multi-cloud architectures, F5's offerings that facilitate consistent application delivery, security, and performance across diverse cloud environments are seeing increased demand. Its solutions for cloud-native applications are particularly relevant as companies modernize their infrastructure.
4. Demand for Application Modernization and Digital Transformation Initiatives: Organizations undergoing digital transformation and modernizing their legacy applications require robust solutions for application delivery and security. F5's portfolio, including its BIG-IP platform and Distributed Cloud Services, addresses these evolving needs, positioning it for growth as these initiatives continue.

Share Repurchases

• F5 repurchased approximately $500 million of its common stock during fiscal year 2023.
• Approximately $1.2 billion remained authorized for future share repurchases as of September 30, 2023.
• F5 repurchased approximately $500 million of its common stock in fiscal year 2022 and $250 million in fiscal year 2021.

Share Issuance

• Proceeds from common stock issuances, primarily from employee stock plans, were $120 million in fiscal year 2022.
• Share issuances from employee stock plans generated $118 million in fiscal year 2021 and $104 million in fiscal year 2020.

Outbound Investments

• F5 completed the acquisition of Volterra, Inc. for approximately $474 million in cash on January 7, 2021.

Capital Expenditures

• Capital expenditures were $73 million in fiscal year 2023, $87 million in fiscal year 2022, and $67 million in fiscal year 2021.
• The primary focus of capital expenditures includes investments in property and equipment to support operations.