Providing fresh evidence of the strength of enterprise demand for security software, Palo Alto Networks shares are on the rise in late trading Tuesday on strong financial results for the security software company’s fiscal second quarter ended Jan. 31. The company also increased guidance for the year.
For the quarter, Palo Alto Networks (ticker: PANW) posted revenue of $1.3 billion, up 30% from a year earlier, and ahead of both the company’s guidance range of $1.265 billion to $1.285 billion and the Street consensus forecast at $1.28 billion. Non-GAAP profits were $1.74 a share, above both the company’s guidance at $1.63 to $1.66 a share and the Street consensus at $1.64 a share. Billings were $1.6 billion, up 32%, and ahead of the company’s forecast of $1.51 billion to $1.53 billion.
In late trading, Palo Alto Networks shares were up 6.3%, to $505.53.
The company said remaining performance obligations, a measure of work contracted for but not yet delivered, were $6.3 billion, up 36% from a year ago. Palo Alto Networks said it signed 221 deals in the quarter with a value of at least $1 million, increasing the number of customers who have booked orders of $1 million or more over the last 12 months to a record 1,077.
For the fiscal third quarter, the company is projecting revenue of $1.345 billion to $1.365 billion, up 25% to 27%, and non-GAAP profits of $1.65 to $1.68 a share; Street consensus had been $1.35 billion and profits of $1.63 a share. Palo Alto Networks sees billings for the quarter of $1.59 billion to $1.61 billion, up 24% to 25%.
The provider of firewalls and other security software now sees revenue for the July 2022 fiscal year of $6.8 billion to $6.85 billion, up 25% to 26%, and above a previous forecast of $6.675 billion to $6.725 billion. The company now sees non-GAAP full-year profits of $7.23 to $7.30 a share; previous guidance had called for $7.15 to $7.25 a share.
CEO Nikesh Arora said in a statement that the company in the quarter continued to benefit from “strong cybersecurity demand, organizations architecting for hybrid work and growing their hyperscale cloud footprints.”
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
