Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NYSE: PANW)
The Santa Clara, California based network security giant that serves Governments, Corporations Individuals and Institutions, reported their fiscal quarterly earnings on Thursday August 31,2017 after the market closed at 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Investors and Traders who had been anticipating a solid quarter given all the turmoil in the world, were rewarded handsomely.
Fourth quarterly revenue grew 27% from the years prior quarter. Revenues came in at just under $510 million dollars. End the year-over-year fiscal Revenue grew by 28% to a stunning $1.8 billion dollars. The company added a whopping 3,000 new customers to their already huge customer base which was the impetus for the strong earnings.
Shares,which closed at $132.69 at 4pm for regular trading were down only -$0.11 on the day but surged higher in the aftermarket. Shares closed at $139.95 which was up 5.47% or $7.26 at the close of the after-hours trading session at 7:59 p.m. EDT.
PANW Chart
The above price chart shows the 5 minute price intervals during the regular trading session on the left and on the right shows the aftermarket price action on the same 5 minute interval time frame.
The above chart shows the price history go back 6 months to roughly February of 2017. It is easy to see the 2 levels 1 indicated in red and 1 indicated in green. Price has respected the upper red resistance line and the lower green support line.
The reader can also see the oval highlighted area on the far right which is where shares should open for trading on Friday morning. It is interesting to note that it looks like it will still trade in a price range between the two lines.
Company Comments
Mark McLaughlin, chief executive officer of Palo Alto Networks had this to say in the conference call;
“We are pleased to have ended fiscal 2017 with a record fourth quarter, including market-leading revenue growth and the highest number of new customer additions recorded in a single quarter by the company. For the fiscal year, revenue was $1.8 billion, up 28 percent year over year; our customer base grew to more than 42,500; and we delivered the largest product and features launch in our history. Also, Steffan Tomlinson, our chief financial officer, has informed me of his intent to retire from his position. I would like to thank Steffan for his contributions to Palo Alto Networks and his leadership role in guiding the company through a period of tremendous growth and market share gains. We are initiating a search for his replacement, and Steffan will remain in his current position until the search is completed.”
And Steffan Tomlinson added,
“During the quarter, we added approximately 3,000 new customers and reported record revenue of $509 million, an increase of 27 percent year over year. We also delivered record deferred revenue and billings, while generating cash flow from operations of $240 million and free cash flow of $190 million, ending the fiscal year with approximately $2.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments.”
Company Profile
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides security platform solutions to enterprises, service providers, and government entities worldwide. Its platform includes Next-Generation Firewall that delivers application, user, and content visibility and control, as well as protection against network-based cyber threats; Advanced Endpoint Protection, which prevents cyber attacks that exploit software vulnerabilities on various fixed and virtual endpoints and servers; and Threat Intelligence Cloud, which offers central intelligence capabilities, security for software as a service applications, and automated delivery of preventative measures against cyber attacks.
The company provides firewall appliances; Panorama, a security management solution for the control of appliances deployed on an end-customers network as a virtual or a physical appliance; and Virtual System Upgrades, which are available as an extensions to the virtual system capacity that ships with the physical appliances.
It also offers subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, uniform resource filtering, malware and persistent threat, laptop and mobile device, and firewall protection services, as well as cyber attack, threat intelligence, and content control services.
In addition, the company provides support and maintenance services; and professional services, including application traffic management, solution design and planning, configuration, and firewall migration, as well as provides online and classroom-style education training services.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. primarily sells its products and services through its channel partners, as well as directly to medium to large enterprises, service providers, and government entities operating in various industries comprising education, energy, financial services, government entities, healthcare, Internet and media, manufacturing, public sector, and telecommunications.
The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. -YahooFinance
