Arista Networks, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Year End 2023 Financial Results

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE: ANET), an industry leader in data-driven, client to cloud networking for large data center, campus and routing environments, today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and the full year ended December 31, 2023.

"I am truly honored to be a part of the leadership team that will drive Arista 2.0 products and technology for enterprise, cloud and AI customers," said incoming CFO Chantelle Breithaupt. "As we enter 2024, we remain focused on satisfying their most demanding requirements with our compelling, innovative networking solutions."

Full Year Financial Results

• Revenue of $5,860.2 million, an increase of 33.8% compared to fiscal year 2022.
• GAAP gross margin of 61.9%, compared to GAAP gross margin of 61.1% in fiscal year 2022.
• Non-GAAP gross margin of 62.6%, compared to non-GAAP gross margin of 61.9% in fiscal year 2022.
• GAAP net income of $2,087.3 million, or $6.58 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $1,352.4 million, or $4.27 per diluted share, in fiscal year 2022.
• Non-GAAP net income of $2,199.4 million or $6.94 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $1,448.3 million or $4.58 per diluted share, in fiscal year 2022.

Fourth Quarter Financial Results

• Revenue of $1,540.4 million, an increase of 2.1% compared to the third quarter of 2023, and an increase of 20.8% from the fourth quarter of 2022.
• GAAP gross margin of 64.9%, compared to GAAP gross margin of 62.4% in the third quarter of 2023 and 60.3% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
• Non-GAAP gross margin of 65.4%, compared to non-GAAP gross margin of 63.1% in the third quarter of 2023 and 61.0% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
• GAAP net income of $613.6 million, or $1.92 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $427.1 million, or $1.35 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2022.
• Non-GAAP net income of $664.3 million, or $2.08 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $445.1 million, or $1.41 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Commenting on the company's financial results, Ita Brennan, Arista's outgoing CFO said, "Our outstanding performance for 2023 epitomizes our focus on profitable revenue growth, expanding our enterprise and campus footprint while leveraging R&D and go-to-market investments across the business."

Fourth Quarter Company Highlights

• Arista 7130 Series Leads the Way to 25G Ultra-Low Latency Networking - announcing the next generation 7130 Series for ultra-low latency switching that accelerates 25G networking. With three new 25G optimized systems, enhanced performance optics, 25G ready FPGA applications and updates to the FDK (FPGA Development Kit), Arista is addressing the needs for 25G market data distribution and High-Frequency Trading (HFT) environments.
• Arista Networks Unveils Zero Trust Networking Vision - announcing an expanded zero trust networking architecture that uses the underlying network infrastructure to break down security silos, streamline workflows and enable an integrated zero trust program. Through a combination of Arista-developed technologies and strategic alliances with key partners, this approach uses the network to compensate for harder-to-implement zero trust controls across the domains of devices, workloads, identity, and data.
• Arista Networks Appoints New CFO - announcing the appointment of Chantelle Breithaupt as the company's CFO, effective February 2024.

Full Year Company Highlights

• The Arrival of Open AI Networking - Arista and the founding members of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) have set out on the mission to enhance the capabilities of Ethernet for AI and HPC.
• Arista Networks Introduces AI-Driven Network Identity - Arista introduced a cloud-delivered, AI-driven network identity service for enterprise security and IT operations.
• In the first half of 2023, Arista surpassed 75 million cloud network ports shipped cumulatively.
• Arista Named a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Network Analysis and Visibility, Q2 2023 which notes that "Arista Networks' deployment flexibility is second to none."
• Arista Modernizes Routing in the Wide Area Network - Arista introduced the Arista WAN Routing System, which combines three new networking offerings: enterprise-class routing platforms, carrier/cloud-neutral internet transit capabilities, and the CloudVision^® Pathfinder Service to simplify and improve customer wide area networks.
• Arista Showcases Next Generation Systems and Optics for Cloud, Internet Service Provider, and Enterprise Networks - Arista announced its range of products and solutions, along with perspectives on the petascale era of cloud networking and the systems and optics required to meet the demands of new AI/ML-driven network architectures.

Financial Outlook

For the first quarter of 2024, we expect:

• Revenue between $1.52 billion to $1.56 billion;
• Non-GAAP gross margin of approximately 62%; and
• Non-GAAP operating margin of approximately 42%.

Guidance for non-GAAP financial measures excludes stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, and other acquisition-related costs. A reconciliation of non-GAAP guidance measures to corresponding GAAP measures is not available on a forward-looking basis because these exclusions can be uncertain or difficult to predict, including stock-based compensation expense which is impacted by the company's future hiring and retention needs and the future fair market value of the company's common stock. The actual amount of these exclusions will have a significant impact on the company's GAAP gross margin and GAAP operating margin.

Prepared Materials and Conference Call Information

Arista's executives will discuss the fourth quarter and year end 2023 financial results on a conference call at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time today. To listen to the call via telephone, dial [phone] in the United States or [phone] from international locations. The Conference ID is 5655862.

The financial results conference call will also be available via live webcast on Arista's investor relations website at https://investors.arista.com/. Shortly after the conclusion of the conference call, a replay of the audio webcast will be available on Arista's investor relations website.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" regarding our future performance, including quotations from management, statements in the section entitled "Financial Outlook," such as estimates regarding revenue, non-GAAP gross margin and non-GAAP operating margin for the first quarter of 2024 and statements regarding the benefits of Arista's products. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those anticipated in or implied by the forward-looking statements including risks associated with: large purchases by a limited number of customers who represent a substantial portion of our revenue; adverse economic and geopolitical conditions and conflicts, including inflationary pressures which result in increased component costs and reduced information technology and network infrastructure spending, the Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Hamas conflicts and the Houthi attacks on marine vessels in the Red Sea; changes in our customers technology roadmaps and priorities including the need for the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence ("AI") and related technologies; the impact of sole or limited sources of supply, supply shortages and extended lead times or supply changes; volatility in our revenue growth rate; variations in our results of operations; the rapid evolution of the networking market; failure to successfully carry out new products and service offerings and expand into adjacent markets; variability in our gross margins; intense competition and industry consolidation; expansion of our international sales and operations; investments in or acquisitions of other businesses; seasonality and industry cyclicality; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; failure to raise additional capital on favorable terms; our inability to attract new large customers or sell additional products and services to our existing customers; sales of our switches generating most of our product revenue; large customers requiring more favorable terms; inability to increase market awareness or acceptance of our new products and services; decreases in the sales prices of our products and services; long and unpredictable sales cycles; declines in maintenance renewals by customers; product quality problems; failure to anticipate technological shifts; managing the supply of our products and product components; our dependence on third-party manufacturers to build our products; assertions by third parties of intellectual property rights infringement; failure to protect or assert our intellectual property rights; defects, errors or vulnerabilities in our products, the failure of our products to detect security breaches or incidents, the misuse of our products or the risks or product liability; enhanced U.S. tax, tariff, import/export restrictions, Chinese regulations or other trade barriers; failure to comply with government law and regulations; issues in the development and use of artificial intelligence, combined with an uncertain regulatory environment; and other future events. Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect us can be found in our most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, but not limited to, our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. You can locate these reports through our website at https://investors.arista.com/ and on the SEC's website at https://www.sec.gov/. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to the company as of the date hereof and we disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release and accompanying table contain certain non-GAAP financial measures including non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP income from operations, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted net income per share. These non-GAAP financial measures exclude stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquisition-related intangibles and other acquisition-related expenses, gains/losses on strategic investments, an intellectual property dispute settlement, and the income tax effect of these non-GAAP exclusions. In addition, non-GAAP financial measures exclude net tax benefits associated with stock-based awards, which include excess tax benefits, and other discrete indirect effects of such awards. The company uses these non-GAAP financial measures internally in analyzing its financial results and believes that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors as an additional tool to evaluate ongoing operating results and trends. In addition, these measures are the primary indicators management uses as a basis for its planning and forecasting for future periods.

Non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the comparable GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures are subject to limitations, and should be read only in conjunction with the company's consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures do not have any standardized meaning and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. A description of these non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of the company's non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures have been provided in the financial statement tables included in this press release, and investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks is an industry leader in data-driven, client to cloud networking for large data center, campus and routing environments. Arista's award-winning platforms deliver availability, agility, automation, analytics and security through an advanced network operating stack. For more information, visit https://www.arista.com.

ARISTA, EOS, CloudVision, NetDL and AVA are among the registered and unregistered trademarks of Arista Networks, Inc. in jurisdictions around the world. Other company names or product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Additional information and resources can be found at www.arista.com.

ARISTA NETWORKS, INC. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited, in thousands, except per share amounts)
		Three Months Ended December 31,						Twelve Months Ended December 31,
			2023			2022			2023			2022
Revenue:
Product		$	1,310,314		$	1,096,866		$	5,029,493		$	3,716,079
Service			230,123			178,686			830,675			665,231
Total revenue			1,540,437			1,275,552			5,860,168			4,381,310
Cost of revenue:
Product			495,826			471,617			2,061,167			1,573,629
Service			45,385			35,329			168,720			131,985
Total cost of revenue			541,211			506,946			2,229,887			1,705,614
Total gross profit			999,226			768,606			3,630,281			2,675,696
Operating expenses:
Research and development			211,481			190,423			854,918			728,394
Sales and marketing			105,538			85,443			399,034			326,955
General and administrative			42,293			23,821			119,080			93,241
Total operating expenses			359,312			299,687			1,373,032			1,148,590
Income from operations			639,914			468,919			2,257,249			1,527,106
Other income, net			54,477			16,926			164,777			54,690
Income before income taxes			694,391			485,845			2,422,026			1,581,796
Provision for income taxes			80,755			58,756			334,705			229,350
Net income		$	613,636		$	427,089		$	2,087,321		$	1,352,446
Earnings per share:
Basic		$	1.97		$	1.39		$	6.75		$	4.41
Diluted		$	1.92		$	1.35		$	6.58		$	4.27
Weighted-average common shares outstanding:
Basic			311,612			306,162			309,354			306,473
Diluted			318,845			315,201			317,135			316,459

ARISTA NETWORKS, INC. Reconciliation of Selected GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures (Unaudited, in thousands, except percentages and per share amounts)
		Three Months Ended December 31,								Twelve Months Ended December 31,
			2023				2022				2023				2022
GAAP gross profit		$	999,226			$	768,606			$	3,630,281			$	2,675,696
GAAP gross margin			64.9	%			60.3	%			61.9	%			61.1	%
Stock-based compensation expense			3,273				3,075				12,789				9,688
Intangible asset amortization			4,195				6,821				23,457				25,374
Non-GAAP gross profit		$	1,006,694			$	778,502			$	3,666,527			$	2,710,758
Non-GAAP gross margin			65.4	%			61.0	%			62.6	%			61.9	%
GAAP income from operations		$	639,914			$	468,919			$	2,257,249			$	1,527,106
Stock-based compensation expense			81,358				64,954				296,756				230,934
Intangible asset amortization			6,690				9,316				33,437				33,650
Acquisition-related costs(1)			-				-				-				4,691
Legal settlement (2)			16,000				-				16,000				-
Non-GAAP income from operations		$	743,962			$	543,189			$	2,603,442			$	1,796,381
Non-GAAP operating margin			48.3	%			42.6	%			44.4	%			41.0	%
GAAP net income		$	613,636			$	427,089			$	2,087,321			$	1,352,446
Stock-based compensation expense			81,358				64,954				296,756				230,934
Intangible asset amortization			6,690				9,316				33,437				33,650
Acquisition-related costs(1)			-				-				-				4,691
Gain on strategic investments			-				(3,358	)			(18,699	)			(27,479	)
Tax benefit on stock-based awards			(40,561	)			(37,177	)			(174,122	)			(113,502	)
Income tax effect on non-GAAP exclusions			(12,795	)			(15,677	)			(41,283	)			(32,482	)
Legal settlement (2)			16,000				-				16,000				-
Non-GAAP net income		$	664,328			$	445,147			$	2,199,410			$	1,448,258
GAAP diluted net income per share		$	1.92			$	1.35			$	6.58			$	4.27
Non-GAAP adjustments to net income			0.16				0.06				0.36				0.31
Non-GAAP diluted net income per share		$	2.08			$	1.41			$	6.94			$	4.58
Weighted-average shares used in computing diluted net income per share			318,845				315,201				317,135				316,459
Summary of Stock-Based Compensation Expense:
Cost of revenue		$	3,273			$	3,075			$	12,789			$	9,688
Research and development			46,506				37,174				172,177				130,897
Sales and marketing			19,613				15,532				71,074				57,571
General and administrative			11,966				9,173				40,716				32,778
Total		$	81,358			$	64,954			$	296,756			$	230,934
___________________ (1) Represents costs associated with business combinations, which primarily include retention bonuses, and professional and consulting fees. (2) In the quarter ended December 31, 2023, we agreed to pay $16 million to settle an intellectual property dispute and we recorded this amount to general and administrative expenses.

ARISTA NETWORKS, INC. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited, in thousands)
		December 31, 2023				December 31, 2022
ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS:
Cash and cash equivalents		$	1,938,606			$	671,707
Marketable securities			3,069,362				2,352,022
Accounts receivable			1,024,569				923,096
Inventories			1,945,180				1,289,706
Prepaid expenses and other current assets			412,518				314,217
Total current assets			8,390,235				5,550,748
Property and equipment, net			101,580				95,009
Acquisition-related intangible assets, net			88,768				122,205
Goodwill			268,531				265,924
Deferred tax assets			945,792				574,912
Other assets			151,900				166,612
TOTAL ASSETS		$	9,946,806			$	6,775,410
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
CURRENT LIABILITIES:
Accounts payable		$	435,059			$	232,572
Accrued liabilities			407,302				292,487
Deferred revenue			915,204				637,432
Other current liabilities			152,041				131,040
Total current liabilities			1,909,606				1,293,531
Income taxes payable			95,751				89,839
Deferred revenue, non-current			591,000				403,814
Other long-term liabilities			131,390				102,406
TOTAL LIABILITIES			2,727,747				1,889,590
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY:
Common stock			31				31
Additional paid-in capital			2,108,331				1,780,714
Retained earnings			5,114,025				3,138,983
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)			(3,328	)			(33,908	)
TOTAL STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY			7,219,059				4,885,820
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY		$	9,946,806			$	6,775,410

ARISTA NETWORKS, INC. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited, in thousands)
		Twelve Months Ended December 31,
			2023				2022
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
Net income		$	2,087,321			$	1,352,446
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation, amortization and other			70,630				62,700
Noncash lease expense			18,236				18,648
Stock-based compensation			296,756				230,934
Deferred income taxes			(370,796	)			(244,382	)
Gain on strategic investments			(18,699	)			(27,479	)
Amortization of investment premiums			(33,518	)			12,767
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable, net			(101,473	)			(401,531	)
Inventories			(655,474	)			(638,948	)
Other assets			(66,401	)			(117,465	)
Accounts payable			198,612				31,436
Other liabilities			123,694				70,704
Deferred revenue			464,958				98,957
Income taxes, net			20,168				44,026
Net cash provided by operating activities			2,034,014				492,813
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from maturities of marketable securities			1,887,939				1,643,824
Proceeds from sale of marketable securities			67,284				193,782
Purchases of marketable securities			(2,606,878	)			(1,418,857	)
Purchases of property, equipment and intangible assets			(34,434	)			(44,644	)
Cash paid for business combination, net of cash acquired			1,799				(145,087	)
Investment in notes and privately-held companies			(3,164	)			(12,691	)
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities			(687,454	)			216,327
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from issuance of common stock under equity plans			62,093				48,411
Tax withholding paid on behalf of employees for net share settlement			(33,563	)			(32,725	)
Repurchase of common stock			(112,279	)			(670,287	)
Net cash used in financing activities			(83,749	)			(654,601	)
Effect of exchange rate changes			675				(3,611	)
NET INCREASE/(DECREASE) IN CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND RESTRICTED CASH			1,263,486				50,928
CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND RESTRICTED CASH -Beginning of period			675,978				625,050
CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND RESTRICTED CASH -End of period		$	1,939,464			$	675,978

Contacts

Investor Contacts:
Arista Networks, Inc.
Liz Stine, 408-547-5885
Director, Investor Relations
[e-mail]