Here’s How Arista Networks Is a Major Beneficiary of Big Tech’s Push to Break Nvidia’s Grip

In the second quarter of 2026, Arista Networks (ANET) gained nearly 32% on the back of increasing demand for networking products and a raise in annual revenue guidance. With a market cap of $201.5 billion, ANET is not a small company. However, networking companies tend to operate under the shadows of the semiconductor and data center giants they serve. Therefore, they can fly under the radar while slowly delivering incredible shareholder returns. ANET is exactly that type of company.

Wall Street has also been slowly nudging its target prices on the stock higher throughout the quarter, with the latest update coming on June 18. KeyBanc Capital maintained an "Overweight" rating and also raised its price target on the stock from $178 to $200. The raised price target reflects the company’s potential in the cloud networking market. Following meetings with the company, KeyBanc sees strong demand and growing opportunities from both XPU deployments and AI inference workloads. This will also serve as an important driver for the company’s future growth and support its long-term revenue outlook. 

The AI tailwind continues to support the company's growth ambitions. On June 9, Arista announced the 1.6Terabit switch, designed for rack-scale AI infrastructure. This announcement from the company indicates that the total market for its products is growing and hungry for the latest networking solutions. 

KeyBanc further believes that the AI semiconductor market remains largely dominated by Nvidia Corporation (NVDA), which often uses a more closed-system approach. This has produced challenges for independent networking companies. However, the growing use of XPUs by large cloud providers and LLM developers will create more opportunities for open networking ecosystems. As a result, ANET is likely to benefit from this shift as customers may prefer more flexible and open networking solutions. The company is well positioned to capitalize on the ongoing AI tailwinds, supported by rising demand for XPU- driven infrastructure. 

About Arista Networks Stock

Arista is a networking company that develops AI networking solutions for data centers and enterprise environments. Its product portfolio includes AI and data center switches, routing and storage systems, Arista EOS, and CloudVision. Founded in 2008, the company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and is led by CEO Jayshree Ullal.

Over the last 12 months, Arista Networks’ stock has increased 58.2%, comfortably outperforming the S&P 500 Index ($SPX), which rose 19.2% during the same period. Some volatility is expected going forward as the earnings season is about to begin.

On various metrics, ANET stock is trading at an expensive valuation. The company’s earnings are expected to grow at a stable 22% all the way through 2029, but the question for investors is whether that justifies a forward price-to-earnings of 51 times and a forward price-to-sales multiple of 17.38 times. Both these multiples are above their 5-year averages, respectively. The stock is expensive, but when you’re Big Tech’s preferred vendor for diversification, these multiples are justified.

Arista Networks Reports 35% Earnings Growth

Arista announced its Q1 2026 earnings report on May 5. The company reported revenue of $2.71 billion, up 35.1% year-over-year (YOY). The earnings per share came in at $0.87, which comfortably beat the Wall Street consensus of $0.79. The company’s focus on AI and speciality providers significantly increased its revenue. However, the market still reacted negatively to the result, with the stock falling 13.61% the day after. 

For the full year 2026, the company raised its outlook to 27.7%, while maintaining its campus revenue goal of $1.25 billion. ANET has raised its revenue guidance for Q2 to $2.8 billion. This translates to an EPS of $0.88. Moreover, the company’s growth reflects both strong demand and its ability to deliver products. The cloud networking services company not only raised its outlook but also had a positive analyst sentiment after the earnings. 

What Are Analysts Saying About ANET Stock

Morgan Stanley analyst Meta Marshall increased Arista Networks’ price target from $180 to $190 while maintaining an “Overweight” rating. The analyst stated that with the growing demand for AI inference and with companies needing to upgrade their front-end networking infrastructure, Arista Networks should benefit from it. Evercore ISI and Wells Fargo analysts Amit Daryanani and Aaron Rakers also maintained a “Buy” rating with price targets of $200 and $185, respectively.

Based on the 26 Wall Street analysts, Arista Networks holds a “Strong Buy” rating. The mean price target is $187.92, indicating a 17.5% upside. None of the Wall Street analysts has suggested selling the company's stocks, which signals confidence in the firm’s growth in the near future.