UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Downgrades F5 Networks to Neutral after Disappointing Results

In a report published Friday, Piper Jaffray analyst Tory D. Jensen downgraded the rating on F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) from Overweight to Neutral, and lowered the price target from $107.00 to $82.00.In the report, Jensen noted, “F5 pre-announced disappointing results and this marked the fourth consecutive quarter of decelerating y/y product growth. In addition to experiencing a 9.8% y/y decline in product sales, the security portion grew materially, which implies F5's core ADC growth was down more than 10% y/y. We believe several factors have impacted F5's product growth and they include a significant slowdown in server virtualization, market share losses, emerging risk from SDN architectures, and increased penetration levels of ADCs. F5 does have a significant number of new product introductions that should help accelerate product growth (BIG-IP appliance refresh, layer 3-7 firewall, Deep Packet Inspection, Diameter Routing, refreshed operating system), but we have become incrementally more concerned with respect to the opportunity for healthy growth in the ADC market.”F5 Networks closed on Thursday at $90.42.