F5 Announces Earnings For Q1 FY2012

PRESS RELEASE

SEATTLE, WA—January 18, 2012— For the first quarter of fiscal 2012, F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) announced revenue of $322.4 million, up 2.5 percent from $314.6 million in the prior quarter and 19.9 percent from $268.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2011.

GAAP net income was $66.5 million ($0.83 per diluted share), compared to $67.6 million ($0.84 per diluted share) in the prior quarter and $55.7 million ($0.68 per diluted share) in the first quarter a year ago.

Excluding the impact of stock-based compensation net of tax, non-GAAP net income was $82.2 million ($1.03 per diluted share), compared to $85.2 million ($1.06 per diluted share) in the prior quarter and $72.2 million ($0.88 per diluted share) in the first quarter of last year.

A reconciliation of GAAP net income to non-GAAP net income is included on the attached Consolidated Statements of Operations.

“Strong sales in APAC, Japan, and particularly North America offset the seasonal slowdown that typically characterizes the first quarter of a new fiscal year. We were also pleased that sales in the EMEA region exceeded our expectations,” said John McAdam, F5 president and chief executive officer.

“Strength in product sales was driven in part by growing demand for VIPRION 2400, our recently introduced midrange chassis product, across all regions and vertical markets. As a result, sales of all VIPRION products nearly tripled compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2011.

“In addition, sales of our vCMP (Virtual Clustered Multiprocessing) module, which enables customers to run multiple virtual BIG-IPs on a single VIPRION, were very strong during the quarter. Increasing attach rates for Application Security Manager, Access Policy Manager and other BIG-IP software modules also boosted sales, and demand for BIG-IP virtual editions continued to outpace our expectations.”

F5 achieved a non-GAAP operating margin of 37.8 percent, while adding 125 employees during the quarter. The company also continued to strengthen its financial position during the quarter, generating $132 million in cash from operations. After repurchasing 320,100 shares of its outstanding common stock the company ended the quarter with $1.11 billion in cash and investments.

For the current quarter, ending March 31, management has set a revenue goal of $332 million to $337 million with a GAAP earnings target of $0.84 to $0.86 per diluted share. Excluding stock-based compensation expense, the company’s non-GAAP earnings target is $1.05 to $1.07 per diluted share.

A reconciliation of the company’s expected GAAP and non-GAAP earnings is provided in the following table:

Three months ended

March 31, 2012

Reconciliation of Expected Non-GAAP Second Quarter Earnings Low High

Net income $67.6 $69.2

Stock-based compensation expense, net of tax $16.9 $16.9

Non-GAAP net income excluding stock-based compensation expense $84.5 $86.1

Net income per share - diluted $0.84 $0.86

Non-GAAP net income per share - diluted $1.05 $1.07

About F5 Networks

F5 Networks, Inc., the global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN), helps the world’s largest enterprises and service providers realize the full value of virtualization, cloud computing, and on-demand IT. F5' solutions help integrate disparate technologies to provide greater control of the infrastructure, improve application delivery and data management, and give users seamless, secure, and accelerated access to applications from their corporate desktops and smart devices. An open architectural framework enables F5 customers to apply business policies at “strategic points of control” across the IT infrastructure and into the public cloud. F5 products give customers the agility they need to align IT with changing business conditions, deploy scalable solutions on demand, and manage mobile access to data and services. Enterprises, service and cloud providers, and leading online companies worldwide rely on F5 to optimize their IT investments and drive business forward. For more information, go to www.f5.com.