Shares of Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW, Financial) rose 6.24% to $213 in after-hours trading on Wednesday following the release of financial results for its fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2019.
The market was please that fourth quarter revenue of $805.8 million exceeded expectations by $2.24 million and fourth quarter non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.47 beat consensus estimates by 5 cents. Revenue increased 22.4% year-over-year, and non-GAAP earnings per share increased 9.7%.
The Santa Clara, California-based provider of security platform solutions worldwide also posted negative GAAP earnings per share of 22 cents, which was a shift from 7 cents net profit in the prior-year quarter, missing estimates by 22 cents.
Subscription and support revenue rose 29.4% to $500.1 million, and product revenue increased 12.3% to $305.7 million. Moreover, billings increased 22% to $1.1 billion.
“The addition of our proposed acquisition announced today, Zingbox, Inc., a differentiated player in IoT security, continues our strategy of extending our platforms," Chairman and CEO Nikesh Arora said in a statement. "Zingbox will add to the capabilities of our Next-Generation Firewall by offering a first-of-its kind subscription that will make it easier for organizations to protect IoT devices from attackers. It will also be available as a service on our Cortex platform.”
Palo Alto Networks also posted numbers for its fiscal year 2019. The results included a net loss of $81.9 million or a loss of 87 cents per share on $2.9 billion in revenue, reflecting 27.5% growth from full fiscal 2018. Gross profit rose 28.4% to $2.09 billion, while the operating loss declined 48% to $54.1 million. Also, billings increased 22% to $3.5 billion.
The balance sheet had $2.8 billion in cash and short-term securities and $1.43 billion in debt represented by convertible senior notes.
The stock price closed at $200.49 on Wednesday for a market capitalization of $19.24 billion. Following a 9% fall over the past year through Sept. 4, the share price is below the 200-, 100- and 50-day simple moving average lines. The 52-week range is $160.08 to $260.63.
The 14-day relative strength index of 40.9 suggests the stock is neither overbought nor oversold.
Wall Street issued a buy rating for shares of Palo Alto Networks Inc., with an average target price of $266.48 per share.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any securities mentioned.
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