FireEye’s (FEYE, Financial) downturn started after reaching its all-time high in early 2014.
Over the past three years, the stock has plunged more than 75%. In 2016 alone, the stock was down nearly 43%, but it has displayed strong signs of upward momentum this year. The stock is up almost 30% year to date and looks like it will continue surprising shareholders in the upcoming quarters.
According to a forecast report from marketsandmarkets.com, the worldwide cyber security market is projected to reach $231.94 billion by 2022, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11%. Given the healthy outlook for the cyber security market, FireEye could likely gain huge benefits going forward mainly due to its transition to cloud software services.
As a matter of fact, the cyber security software specialist’s revenue has slowed considerably. In the most recent quarter, the company reported top-line growth of just 3.4%, down from 34% a year ago. The cyber security company has some amazing plans for this year.
Despite sharply decelerating revenue growth, FireEye aims to reach operating profitability while producing positive cash flow this year. The company detailed that it expects weak growth in the coming quarter before a more significant boost comes in the second half of the year.
In all, the company expects to produce $730 million in revenue this year at the midpoint of its guidance, while its estimated loss of 31 cents per share is considerably lower than the analysts’ estimate of 48 cents.
Moving ahead, FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia is aggressively trying to shift the company away from a product-sales model in favor of cloud software subscriptions to accelerate recurring revenue. Enterprise Information Technology (IT) is progressively shifting to cloud services, and the company’s aggressive focus on cloud services will establish a long-term, reliable source of growth in the future
In its most recent quarter, the cyber security company’s subscription business escalated nearly 12% year over year, offsetting a 30% product revenue drop. Most significantly, subscription services now account for 85% of the company’s overall business, up from 80% a year ago. Furthermore, despite the huge decline in product revenue, the company was able to grow its overall revenue. Although 3.4% growth is not impressive, it is still worth noticing.
FireEye is still going through a transition period that resulted in a billings drop of 18% year over year. The value of subscription-based billings, though, surged 20% on an annual basis. Furthermore, the cyber security company recently introduced its new security platform called “Helix,” which looks promising.
Helix is an innovative intelligence-led platform that simplifies and integrates as well as automates security operations. Also, it delivers context derived from FireEye iSIGHT intelligence. As a result, shareholders can anticipate robust subscription billings growth in the year ahead.
Apart from this, the company’s margin also continues improving as it gradually moves toward a subscription-based business model. The company’s non-GAAP gross margin surged three percentage points in the prior quarter to 73%. Moreover, its total operating expenses fell nearly 30% compared to a year ago period, thanks to a substantial drop in sales and marketing expenses.
Summing up
Although FireEye’s shares have been enjoying strong upward momentum, it can be a temporary thing. The cyber security company is making stride with each passing as its margin has started improving. Moreover, the company’s operating expenses also are down significantly compared to a year ago.
On the other hand, FireEye’s new Helix platform will help it gain benefit from the gradually rising security-as-a-service market by integrating its analytics services and threat prevention into a single platform. The company is offering Helix via a low-cost subscription model, suggesting it can be installed by organizations of large as well as small sizes.
As an outcome, FireEye’s Helix platform could unlock new growth opportunities going forward. Also, decreasing overhead while considerably enhancing sales of its cloud software offering is a captivating combination.
Disclosure: No position in the stocks mentioned in this article.
