Palo Alto Networks share rises on beaten earnings and higher outlook
Shares of Palo Alto Networks Inc. rose in the extended session Thursday after the cybersecurity firm reported earnings that exceeded Wall Street estimates and raised its outlook for the year.
Palo Alto Networks PANW,
shares rose 5.5% after hours, after gaining 2.1% in the regular session to close at $ 342.59.
The company reported a third quarter tax loss of $ 145.1 million, or $ 1.50 per share, compared to a loss of $ 74.8 million, or 77 cents per share, in the same period of the previous year. Adjusted earnings, which excludes stock-based compensation expense and other items, was $ 1.38 per share, compared to $ 1.17 for the same period last year.
Revenue reached $ 1.07 billion, up from $ 869.4 million in the last year’s quarter. Billing, which reflects future contracted activities, rose to $ 1.29 billion, from $ 1.02 billion a year ago,
Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast earnings of $ 1.29 per share on revenue of $ 1.06 billion and billings of $ 1.23 billion.
During the call with analysts, Palo Alto Networks President and CEO Nikesh Arora highlighted that high-level hacks like the SolarWinds intrusion and the pipeline ransomware attack Colonial boosted business.
Arora said that recently a “global tech company” had an eight-figure tracking deal, and a “Fortune 30 manufacturing company” and a “Fortune 10 healthcare company” both spent eight figures. . The CEO noted that Palo Alto Networks is in the process of closing these deals even as it competes with CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. CRWD,
which, according to Arora, “exceeds us by eight to one” in the number of salespeople.
Palo Alto Networks expects fiscal fourth quarter adjusted earnings of $ 1.42 to $ 1.44 per share on revenue of $ 1.17 billion to $ 1.18 billion, while the Analysts had forecast $ 1.41 per share on revenue of $ 1.16 billion. The company also expects billings of $ 1.7 billion to $ 1.72 billion, while analysts had forecast $ 1.62 billion.
For the year, Palo Alto Networks expects adjusted earnings of $ 5.97 to $ 5.99 per share on revenue of $ 5.28 billion to $ 5.3 billion, while Analysts expect $ 5.86 a share on sales of $ 4.18 billion. The company also sees billings of $ 5.28 billion to $ 5.30 billion, while analysts forecast $ 5.16 billion.
Palo Alto Networks shares have risen 46% in the past 12 months. In comparison, the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF HACK,
is up 34%, the S&P 500 SPX index,
is up 40%, and the technology-intensive Nasdaq composite index,
is up 44%.