Participate in Palo Alto Networks (Banu) on Wednesday after the cybersecurity company’s fiscal third-quarter earnings topped Wall Street targets while revenue missed perspectives. Substantial customer growth for cloud-based services was a bright spot for PANW stock in the April quarter.
Palo Alto’s earnings for the quarter ended April 30 increased 83% to $1.10 on an adjusted basis. Moreover, PANW stock revenue rose 24% to $1.72 billion, including acquisitions.
Analysts had expected earnings of 93 cents per share on sales of $1.72 billion.
A measure of sales growth, Billings’, rose 26% to $2.3 billion, beating estimates of $2.228 billion.
A bright spot for big customer growth
“The Company’s strategy continues to drive large deal activity, including deals over $10 million growing 136% sequentially, deals over $5 million growing 62%, and deals over $5 million growing 136% sequentially. million US dollars, which is growing by 29%.”There continues to be a tailwind for customers integrating their purchases into the Palo Alto Solutions suite,” analyst William Blair said in a report.
With its roots in the “firewall” network security market, Palo Alto has created an extensive cloud-based security platform. Firewall hardware protects computer networks by blocking Internet intrusions and monitoring Web-based applications. Acquisitions have been a big part of Palo Alto’s strategy.
Also in the April quarter, annual recurring revenue from cloud platform products increased 60% to $2.57 billion. That beat the estimates of equity analysts at PANW by $2.51 billion.
PANW Stock: Earnings Expectations Are Higher Than Views
For the current quarter ending in July, the cybersecurity company expected Palo Alto earnings of $1.28 per share on revenue of $1.95 billion in the middle of its forecast. Meanwhile, analysts estimated earnings of $1.20 per share on revenue of $1.95 billion.
PANW stock rose 4.7% to 198.65 in early stock market trade today. Palo Alto released its results after the market closed on Tuesday.
Palo Alto stock is up 36% for 2023 as of the market close Tuesday. It is trading on a flat basis for five weeks with 203.54 buy points.
Also, it carries a relative strength rating of 88 out of the 99 best possible, according to IBD stock check.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @employee For updates on 5G wireless networks, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and cloud computing.
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