Arista Stock Slides Pre-Market Despite Bullish Calls From Wall Street After Q4 Earnings Beat: Retail Sentiment Hits Year-High

Arista Networks Inc. (ANET) shares fell as much as 6% in premarket trade on Wednesday despite the company's fourth-quarter results exceeding Wall Street expectations on both earnings and revenue.

The drop comes despite bullish analyst calls and a surge in retail sentiment. The stock was among the most discussed tickers on Stocktwits, with retail sentiment hitting a year-high in early trade.

Analysts at Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, and Citi raised their price targets on Arista following its earnings release, according to TheFly. 

Goldman Sachs was the most bullish, lifting its target to $145 from $135 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating. 

The brokerage cited confidence in Arista’s ability to meet its $750 million back-end artificial intelligence (AI) revenue target in 2025 despite one AI cluster buildout no longer contributing to revenue.

Barclays raised its target to $126 from $125, reiterating an ‘Overweight’ rating. It sees potential upside, suggesting Arista’s 2026 AI-driven revenues could double from the company’s current projections.

Wells Fargo also increased its price target to $125 from $115, noting that Arista’s decision to guide 2025 revenue growth at 17% year-over-year signals confidence. 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Arista improved to ‘extremely bullish’ (93/100) from ‘neutral’ a day ago, marking a year-high for the ticker,  accompanied by a spike in retail chatter to ‘extremely high’ levels.

Some users speculated that profit-taking drove the pre-market decline following Tuesday’s rally. 

Others argued that Arista is positioning itself as a major AI player following its earnings call.

Arista’s stock has gained 72% over the past year, but its performance has been flat this year.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Read also: Intel Stock Slips Pre-Market On Reports Of Silver Lake Buying Majority Stake In Altera Unit: Retail Remains Bullish