A10 Networks (ATEN) Q1 2026 earnings call transcript

Thank you. And thank you all for joining us today. This call is being recorded in a webcast live and may be accessed for at least 90 days via the A10 Networks website at A10 Networks. com. Hosting the call today are Drupal Trivedi, A10's President and CEO, and CFO Michelle Curran. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that shortly after the market closed today, A10 Networks issued a press release announcing its first quarter 2026 financial results.

Additionally, A10 published a presentation and supplemental trended financial statements. You may access the press release, presentation, and trended financial statements on the investor relations section of the company's website. During the course of today's call, management will make forward-looking statements, including statements regarding projections for future operating results, demand, industry and customer trends, macroeconomic factors, strategy, potential new products and solutions, our capital allocation strategy, profitability, expenses and investments, positioning, and our dividend program.

These statements are based on current expectations and beliefs as of today, April 28, 2026. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control that could cause actual results to differ materially, and you should not rely on them as predictions of future events.

P-10 does not intend to update information contained in these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, unless required by law. For a more detailed description of these risks and uncertainties, please refer to our most recent 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Please note that with the exception of revenue, financial measures discussed today are on a non-GAAP basis, unless otherwise noted, and have been adjusted to exclude certain charges.

The non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. It may be different from non-GAAP measures presented by other companies. A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP measures can be found in the press release issue today and on the trended quarterly financial statements posted on the company's website at A10 Networks. com.

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Drupit Trivedi, President and CEO of A10 Networks.

Thank you, Tom, and thank you all for joining us today. A10 continued to deliver on our strategic plan centered around the current AI-driven demand cycle while simultaneously focusing on disciplined execution. Our customers are seeking solutions to address two major challenges, accelerating traffic volume and complexity, and emerging security threats in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

ATEN is well positioned to address both these challenges. We delivered 13.4% revenue growth in the first quarter. This was our third quarter in the last four with double-digit growth. On a trailing 12-month basis, we have grown revenue by 12.1% and delivered TTM-adjusted EBITDA margins of 29.7% in line with the Rule of 40 we outlined several years ago. During this same period, we have grown service provider revenue by 11% and enterprise revenue by 13%, demonstrating the importance of the strategic shift we have made.

A key contributor to our growth is the relevance of our core platform to the demands of AI infrastructure build-out, which create new challenges with greater traffic within the networks. As a result, traffic management is returning to the forefront of build-out plans, and this trend is aligned with ATEN's history and core expertise.

Second, AI is evolving rapidly, creating new threats and expanding the footprint of security concerns. For most of the last decade, ATEN has prioritized security advancement in each of our solutions. During this period, we have built a security portfolio that is now directly in the path of AI-driven threat expansion. This quarter, we were selected as a technology partner for a new application at one of the most significant AI infrastructure build outs in our industry. As a result, the customer behind this build out represents a high percent of total revenue this quarter. The expansion of the customer's commitment to their enterprise applications reflects our focus on and relevance of next-generation networking. Deployments of this scale are time-sensitive and technically demanding, and it required prioritized allocation of product, inventory, and engineering resources.

This was a deliberate choice to support a strategic customer and partner through a time-sensitive deployment window. We believe capturing this opportunity at the right cadence creates long-term value for the business. I also want to highlight a dynamic I believe is increasingly important to our story. AI is transforming the distinction between how large enterprises and service providers build their networks. The workloads are the same, the performance demands are the same, and security requirements are the same. What this means practically is that a Fortune 500 customer standing up an internal AI cluster is now evaluating the same architectural choices as a cloud provider.

A service provider hosting AI workloads for their enterprise tenants is being held to the same standard as its customers' own data centers. We have built our platform for exactly this world. One architecture, one operating model, one security framework across both segments. That is a meaningful competitive advantage as this convergence accelerates driven by AI. Our disciplined operating model balances targeted investment with margin expansion, converting growth into profitability and cash, while dynamically reinvesting in strategic priorities.

We continue to meet our objectives for EBITDA margin, reflecting our ability to reallocate resources based on best business opportunities. This results in consistent revenue and EPS performance. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Michelle Caron, our Chief Financial Officer, to review the numbers in more detail. Michelle.

Thank you, Drupin. As a reminder, with the exception of revenue, all of the metrics discussed on this call are a non-GAAP basis unless otherwise stated. A full reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results are provided in our press release and on our website.

So let me turn to the results. As Drupin noted, Q1 results were aligned with our business model goals and delivered revenue growth of 13.4% to $75 million. Turning to mix, product revenue was $44 million, or 59% of total revenue, growing 22.3% year over year with service revenue comprising the remainder. Security-led revenue was a strong driver of our product revenue growth and continues to meet or exceed our long-term goal of security-led revenue as a percentage of total revenue.

Security remains the dominant revenue driver across our next-gen networking, legacy networking, and network security solution areas. Turning to our major verticals, enterprise customers represented 56% of Q1 revenues, with America's continuing to outpace overall enterprise revenue growth While first quarter benefited from timing of large orders this segment continues to grow above company average in terms of results as well as outlook Enterprise momentum reflects the combination of our focus on this segment as well as continued strong demand for our next networking solutions as customers prioritize modernizing their infrastructure. Our customers across both segments are aligning on the same underlying requirements for performance, security, and scale. From a financial lens, this convergence is showing up in larger opportunities with our enterprise customers.

Service provider revenue was 44% of total revenue in the first quarter. Both verticals align with our strategy and reflect the alignment of our offerings with AI infrastructure buildouts. A10 has evolved its solutions to be well-positioned to capture this next-gen networking demand while also addressing legacy refresh opportunities as this market transition progresses and customers resume investment while continuing to align their evolving priorities around performance, scale, and security.

From a geographical perspective, our Americas region represented 67% of global revenue, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure buildouts. In EMEA, we saw headwinds related to regional conflicts. In APJ, spending remains conservative as customers navigate an uncertain capital environment. We're not losing market share or experiencing competitive displacement. Rather, customers are extending asset lives and deferring discretionary spend. Q1 operating results reflected our continued investment in our strategic initiatives, as well as our financial discipline, amidst temporary input cost pressures.

Non-gap gross margin was 80.6% in line with our stated goals. Operating expenses were $41.5 million as we prioritized investments in AI-facing innovation, next-gen networking, and security. Operating margin was 25.2%, resulting in net income of $17.7 million for $0.25 per basic and $0.24 per diluted share. Q1 diluted weighted share count with 72.9 million shares.

Operating cash flow, and therefore free cash flow in the quarter, was temporarily impacted by the timing of receivables, as well as inventory investments. Neither item reflects a change in underlying business fundamentals, and we expect both to normalize over the course of the year. Full-year free cash flow expectations remain unchanged, expanding on a year-over-year basis.

Adjusted EBITDA was $22.5 million, 30% of revenue, consistent with our business model goals, as we balance investment and growth initiatives with our commitments to sustained and expanding profitability. Turning to the balance sheet, cash and marketable securities were $369.7 million as of March 31st, and deferred revenue was $147.2 million. During the quarter, we paid $4.3 million in cash dividends and repurchased $2.5 million worth of shares, returning a total of $6.8 million to our shareholders. The board has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share to be paid on June 1, 2026 to shareholders of record on May 15, 2026. The company has $53.4 million remaining on its $75 million share repurchase authorization. As is true for everyone in the industry, we are seeing delivery and cost challenges related to pricing of certain components.

We entered this environment with strong supplier relationships, and we will keep evaluating the evolving market and adapt as needed. I'll now turn the call back over to Drupid for an update on our 2026 outlook and closing comments.

Thank you, Michelle. ATEN continues to strengthen its position as a partner of choice to address the evolving traffic and security needs of next generation networks. The strong financial results, including double-digit growth and solidly bid-tar margins, validate the strategic investments we have made. As a result, ATEN is well positioned in front of multiple durable secular catalysts. We continue to invest to enhance our position across our portfolio while preserving profitability and shareholder returns. We are reiterating our 2026 outlook with 2026 revenue growth within our guided range of 10 to 12 percent, adjusted EBITDA margins between 28 to 30 percent, and EPS growth of 12 to 14 percent. In addition, we remain confident and committed to our long-term operating model.

Operator, you can now open the call up for questions.

Yeah, first of all, thank you, Gideon. Good question. So in terms of, I think, the investment cycle, as I think we have said in the past that we see this as there is a large build-out phase and where we are actually focused with customers is in that phase, but also with customers who will over time deploy their own solutions, whether it's around sovereign AI and things like that. So the second part of that cycle, I think, is very early stage, and we expect to see that benefit next few years. The first part of the cycle, I think, is pretty active build-out. I don't know how much higher it will go or lower it will go, but it is pretty solid and stable in terms of the significance committed to the build-out, and even though the build-out itself takes several quarters, right?

So I think we are in the midst of that build-out phase, and we are at a very early stage of where enterprise and other entities will use AI for their own business more directly, whether it's on-prem or cloud or combined.

And I think your second question is correct and appropriate. So we certainly continuously look at that trade-off. And I would say, you know, the focus for us is if there are opportunities to grow faster, typically that also helps in growing EPS faster, right? So I think we look at it from a point of view of revenue and EPS being the ultimate top and bottom line. And, you know, the EBITDA margin is a reflection of our ability to drive kind of OPEX productivity as well as maintain sufficient margin that the fall through is good. But absolutely, I think as we navigate the market and if we see opportunities for significantly faster growth while still delivering, you know, EPS expansion, we continue to look at those.

Yeah. Yeah, no, perfect question. And, you know, I think I touched on it very briefly, but that's a great question. And so I think, first of all, what we are seeing is that many of our large customers that were traditionally SP or enterprise, right, there is a complication where a lot of our SP customers, when they are doing AI, are sort of also doing a lot of enterprise applications. And so that's really where that becomes hard to segregate completely. and then enterprise customers are planning to build their own on-prem, you know, inference models and build out. So in that case, they look like a service provider, right? So that's the demarcation. And I think this is a case of, you know, an existing large customer expanding their deployment.

And it's really around an enterprise application. So it's not the DDoS type product. And it's an enterprise application that enables their delivery of AI.

Yeah. Thank you.

Oh, good question.

Let me tell you you can answer that. So this is a calendar event and not a credit event, right? So our business fundamentals remain strong. There was no meaningful uptick in our aged receivables or there were no deterioration in our payment behavior. There were no concessions on standard payment terms with any customers. So we see the business fundamentals as favorable.

And I think, Hamid, you are correct. We expect it to be in Q2 in addition to the original Q2. We expect things to normalize over the course of the next couple of quarters and expect the full year to be on track.

Yeah, I think it's more that we are still, you know, in Q1. And I think we want to see the progression through the year. And if we see that momentum continuing in Q2 and beyond, obviously, we will revisit that. So it's not, it's just that we are navigating, obviously, things that from a time perspective, right, including supply, lead times and cost challenges for some components.

And obviously, our EMEA business has little impact from some conflicts there, etc. So we feel really good about 10 to 12%. And if we see that progress in terms of pipeline growth and execution into Q2, obviously we will revisit that, Ahmed. So fair question.

Yes, I think that the intent of that, Michael, was really to highlight that many of our existing customers who were service providers or large enterprise are all beginning to allocate more spending and priority to AI, whether it's building it or using it. And so in general, what we are seeing is even if they were buying certain other product categories from us. This is an area of expansion for us and that's the basis for the comment of expanded commitment, right? So it could be a service provider in Europe who's also now doing enterprise or it could be somebody like that as well as an enterprise customer who's now deploying or expanding their AI infrastructure and build out.

So it could be any of those kinds of things.

Yeah, no problem. So I think, you know, the, maybe I'll go in reverse order, right? So we talk about Japan and that market is, if you look at all their macro factors and spending pattern, there is caution with a lot of reasons, right, that they keep siding. And what we see is typically what would have been a spending profile of the large customers there is getting pushed out more to the right because it's both ends of it. It's not just being worried about cost or international issues or something. It's also concern around deploying more CapEx when there is not that much GDP growth and expecting to recover it, right? So from an ROI as well.

So I think we see that as a region where we are very focused on maintaining those customers, staying close to them, helping them solve problems now and expect that to come back, but we don't see imminent, right? It could be later and we don't know exactly. AMIA, I think, as you can imagine, there's a section of AMIA which is quite challenged with active activity with international news, obviously, and so I think that is part that is not kind of growing well, but we continue to see progress and improvement in our business in core Europe part of that segment, right? So, but obviously the Middle East part is a little bit harder right now. And then when it comes to America, I think, you know, there's obviously two categories, right?

So we see customers who are leaning more into AI are more optimistic and spending more and are more outward looking towards wanting to be participating in that. On our traditional sort of telco customers, what we are seeing is stability, I would say. So I think it's not where it's declining anymore for sure. And it's not growing, but it's very stable right now, right? And it could improve in the future as those customers as well figure out their AI spending and deployment patterns. But we certainly see the spending on AI as being the biggest in America or US. And I think, and then Namiya and then Japan, we continue to make progress, including on AI solutions in Japan, but the spending is correlated, obviously, to economy and outlook, and we are mostly focused on ensuring customer satisfaction.

Yeah, no problem.

Thank you, Anya.

Yeah, no, good question, Ania. So I think, you know, if you think about it, typically the way the product is sold is when you have product growth, in four quarters time that contract or support comes up for renewal. And so typically you would see that in the fifth quarter right after that meaning for four quarters they already are covered And then at the end of fourth quarter they have to renew which goes into the support pool again. And so product growing faster will show up in service improving in, you know, four quarters later, roughly, right? So that's one dimension of it. The second, I think, is, you know, I think our renewal rate is fine, very stable.

I think we continue to manage services with customers. There is sometimes timing fluctuation a little bit because of large contracts and renewal time and early or late collections and so forth. But you are correct. It should be a lead indicator for service revenue growing faster in roughly four quarters.

Good question. So no, we really have not seen any significant changes since the last quarter or two. And I think, you know, I feel confident in, you know, what our trajectory is and what we are doing because if you look at even our peers and even their recent kind of reports or outlook, 10 to 12% is still a little bit north of most of them. So we feel, you know, if we continue that and can continue to improve on that as well, we are in, you know, good competitive position. and I would say no real change in the dynamics in terms of the specific landscape.

Thank you, Anya.

Hey, Ben.

No, I think that's a good question. So I think it's broad market share, obviously. And the reason I think, Ben, we reiterated this here is because we had our investor day subsequent to the earnings call in Q1. So this is not indicative of a new trend where we will be doing that every quarter. This was just reiterating and recapturing in one place because we had announced that again at the analyst day, right? So that's the objective. And it's not indicative of us saying we will be guiding every quarter.

is there any with those mid-teams categories and legacy down it is there a path to exceed that 12% is is there anything that you guys think that needs to happen to get there yeah sure no I think so I think the fact is right I think there's two and we talked touched upon one in one other earlier question so certainly if we see stability and in demand and supply as we go through the year we will continue to evaluate. I think certainly AI spending could be one of those factors that helps us improve that in terms of our participation in that spending profile. So that's probably evolving, right? Obviously. And the second factor was we had talked about the notion of the mix shift.

So So as we grow next generation network and security solutions faster than legacy, we are also automatically exposed to higher growth rate markets. So I think through that evolution, I think we have said obviously more than 12% next year and beyond. So I think the mixed shift is helpful in being exposed to higher growth market. Second is to the degree that we can get more embedded into AI build out, whether infrastructure or application, is the second factor, right? And third is long term. We don't know, but when SP spending resumes to more normal rates, that obviously helps us, right? So we don't need all three, but we need one or two of them, right, to be more confident of raising it immediately.

Thank you, Ben.

Hey, Victor.

Yeah, it's a good question, right? So I think obviously, as well-known, right, the memory is the biggest. There's other component shortages, but, you know, and certainly sort of the DDR category is the most specifically the biggest one. And we have seen the same price increases. And I think it's more than just price increase. It's also lead time and allocation, right, from the suppliers. So we absolutely see that phenomenon as well, and we are continuously ensuring that, on one hand, obviously driving demand, but on the other hand, also trying to do as much as we can to line up enough supply in the next few quarters, right, where it's not expected to get better in, like, let's say, four quarters, maybe at least, maybe more.

So absolutely, we see the same phenomenon. All of us use almost the same three or four major memory suppliers, right? And we are navigating it the same in terms of securing supply, managing costs, but also managing our ability to fulfill kind of customer needs. And, you know, we'll continue to do that. And I think it's obviously something we have to navigate. and there's no, as of now, when we say 10 to 12%, that is not an area we are worried about. We can achieve that and we'll continue to work towards improving that and making it, you know, not be an issue for us. But it is certainly a cost issue.

We, I think as we said in the past, we try to split that with customers as much as we can and doesn't always work. And sometimes it does. and we'll continue to navigate that.

No, no, I don't think it's that. I think it's not a good question. So it's not a question of people kind of overbooking it to book capacity, right? I don't think that's the issue. I think in our case, it's more, our customers are looking at building out things fast and we are trying to keep up with them to make sure we get them everything they need. So it's more of that phenomenon, versus I don't think, at least we don't have a concern around double bookings and things like that at all.

No problem.

Thank you. And thank you to all of our employees, customers, and shareholders for joining us today and for your continued support. I am increasingly confident in our strategic orientation with security and AI infrastructure spending patterns. Thank you for your time and attention.