Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET)
Arista Networks builds the high-speed networking equipment that acts as the digital nervous system for massive data centres and cloud computing giants.
Is Arista Networks, Inc. a good stock for a UK beginner?
The honest version: There's no rating here and nothing for sale. In its favour: Strong profit margins compared to many hardware peers. Worth weighing: High valuation multiples suggest investors have priced in a lot of success.
Is this normal for this company?
Each figure against the range this same company has produced recently. Neither end of a range is the good end.
Share price divided by the earnings actually reported over the four most recent quarters. The range is the same calculation at each of this company's last few results, so roughly the past year.
Profit as a share of sales, from the company's own quarterly statements. The range covers the 5 quarters we hold, and the figure shown is its most recent one.
How these ranges are built
Every number here is the company's own reported figure, not a comparison with other companies. The ranges come from this company's own results and its share price. Where it reports in a different currency from the one its shares trade in, the price-to-earnings range is left out rather than mixing the two.
What does Arista Networks, Inc. do?
Arista makes the sophisticated switches and software that allow computers in giant data centres to talk to each other at lightning speed. Earnings flow from selling this hardware alongside software subscriptions to big tech companies and cloud providers. Everything hinges on how much these big customers continue to spend on building out their artificial intelligence infrastructure.
On our factor screen it looks strongest on momentum and quality, and weakest on value.
- !Pays no dividend - the whole return rides on the share price
- ✓Growing - revenue up about 38% over the year
- ✓Very profitable - turns about 38% of sales into profit
- !High P/E of 63 - big growth is already priced in
- ✓Strong return on shareholder money (ROE 31%)
- Quality screens high
- Growth screens high
- Momentum screens high
- Value screens low
- Income screens low
Does Arista Networks, Inc. pay a dividend?
No - Arista Networks, Inc. doesn't currently pay a dividend, so the whole return would rest on the share price. Plenty of growing companies reinvest their profits instead of paying them out - neither approach is better or worse, they're just different.
What do Arista Networks, Inc.'s numbers mean?
How has it performed?
Growth of £1,000, the worst fall, and year by year
Over about 2 years to 2026-09-11. This is the share price only; any dividends would add to it. And it's the USD return - as a UK investor your actual £ return also moves with the exchange rate. Past performance is not a guide to the future, and it could just as easily have fallen.
How much has Arista Networks, Inc. actually fallen?
Over the last 2 years of daily prices, Arista Networks, Inc. fell as much as −50% from a high to a later low. Falls like this are normal when you own a share.
Past falls are not a forecast - it can fall further, or recover.
How has it done year by year?
Calendar-year total return - the share price with dividends reinvested - from adjusted closing prices. The current year is only part-complete. Past returns are not a guide to the future.
A closer look at the numbers
Ownership, earnings history, where the money goes, and the outlook range
Does the share price tell you if it's cheap or expensive?
Who owns Arista Networks, Inc.?
About 73% of Arista Networks, Inc., or about 73 in every 100 shares, is held by big institutions such as pension and index funds, and company insiders hold about 17%. The rest, roughly 10%, is held by the public and smaller investors.
What this does and doesn't tell you
This is a recent snapshot of the share register, and it moves. We don't read anything into who owns what - a high institutional share is common for any large listed company and is not a signal about it.
Based on beta - how much the price swings versus the whole market. Bumpier isn't bad; it just means a rougher ride, which matters more the sooner you might need the money.
Prices move on results, news and the mood of the whole market - no single headline explains a day, and a quiet week is usually just noise, not a signal.
How much money does Arista Networks, Inc. make?
Revenue and profit by quarter, and how much of each sale turns into profit.
Where does each £100 of Arista Networks, Inc.'s sales go?
A rough split of the latest full-year figures: of every £100 of sales, about £37 covers making the product or service, £25 goes on running costs, tax and interest, and about £38 is left as profit. Margins vary a lot by industry, and one-off items can distort a single year.
When does Arista Networks, Inc. report earnings, and how did recent quarters go?
Arista Networks, Inc. is next scheduled to report on about 2026-11-03 - dates can move, and we don't predict results; this just tells you when to look.
‘Beat’ and ‘missed’ are against what analysts expected, not whether the business is doing well.
| Reported | Expected EPS: The earnings per share analysts expected for the quarter - the average of their forecasts. 'Beating' or 'missing' is measured against this number. | Actual EPS | vs expected |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-05 | $0.81 | $0.87 | Beat +8% |
| 2026-02-12 | $0.76 | $0.82 | Beat +8% |
| 2025-11-04 | $0.71 | $0.75 | Beat +5% |
| 2025-08-05 | $0.65 | $0.73 | Beat +12% |
| 2025-05-06 | $0.59 | $0.65 | Beat +10% |
| 2025-02-18 | $0.57 | $0.65 | Beat +14% |
Across the last 6 quarters here, Arista Networks, Inc. came in ahead of what analysts expected 6 times. One quarter is noise, not a trend.
See who else reports over the next two weeks →
Where these figures come from
Each quarter a company reports its results against a consensus of analyst forecasts. The figures here are reported versus expected earnings per share from published results; the expectation is that analyst consensus, not our view. Report dates are estimates and can move.
What are the scenarios for Arista Networks, Inc.?
An illustrative range for the year ahead — not a prediction or a price target.
What are the pros, cons and common questions?
The case each way, and the questions people ask
Arista becomes the standard for all AI data centres
Technological obsolescence or major market saturation
What are the pros and cons of Arista Networks, Inc.?
A balance check, not a score or verdict.
- Strong profit margins compared to many hardware peers
- Essential role in the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market
- High return on equity: How much profit the company makes for each £1 shareholders have put in. Higher usually means a more efficient business. showing efficient use of capital
- High valuation multiples suggest investors have priced in a lot of success
- No dividend payments for those looking for regular income
- Heavy reliance on a small number of very large cloud customers
- The share price is more volatile than the average market index
- Potential for big tech customers to develop their own internal networking solutions
- Supply chain disruptions affecting hardware delivery
The write-up's own warning lights — if these start happening, the case above changes.
- A significant and sustained drop in cloud computing capital expenditure
- A major competitor launching a product that makes Arista's technology redundant
Common questions about Arista Networks, Inc.
Does Arista Networks, Inc. pay a dividend?
No - Arista Networks, Inc. does not currently pay a dividend, so the return would rest on the share price. Many growing companies reinvest profits instead of paying them out.
When does Arista Networks, Inc. report earnings next?
Arista Networks, Inc. is next scheduled to report results on about 2026-11-03. Report dates are estimates and can move; this is a diary note for when to look, not a forecast of the outcome.
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This plain-English summary was auto-generated on 2026-08-02 from public data and checked for an education-only, no-advice tone (the figures above carry their own, usually fresher, 'as of' date). It's information, never a recommendation.