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Palo Alto Networks Inc. shares closed at an all-time high Monday after the cybersecurity company’s quarterly earnings and outlook soundly topped Wall Street estimates.
Palo Alto Networks PANW, +7.65% shares finished up 7.7% at a record $278.50, after reaching an intraday record of $279.06. The company had originally been scheduled to report earnings after the bell Monday, but it opted to report before markets opened.
While the company reported a wider fiscal first-quarter loss from a year ago, adjusted earnings, which exclude share-based compensation expenses and other items, rose to $1.62 a share, compared with $1.05 a share in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose to $946 million from $771.9 million in the year-ago period. Billings came in at $1.08 billion, above the Street’s forecast of $1.04 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Factset had estimated $1.33 a share on revenue of $921.7 million.
Additionally, Palo Alto Networks forecast adjusted fiscal second-quarter earnings of $1.42 to $1.44 a share on revenue of $975 million to $990 million and billings of $1.17 billion to $1.19 billion. Analysts had forecast $1.37 a share on revenue of $972.9 million and billings of $1.15 billion.
In a note, Citi Research analyst Walter Pritchard, who has a buy rating and a $317 price target on Palo Alto Networks, said the company “delivered on what the market was looking for, namely stability after mixed results across the sector and coming off strength” in the fiscal fourth quarter.
Of the 37 analysts who cover Palo Alto Networks, 28 have buy or overweight ratings, nine have hold ratings, and none have sell ratings, along with an average target price of $300.89.
For the year, Palo Alto Network shares are up 20%, while the ETFMG Prime Cybersecurity ETF HACK, +0.62% is up nearly 17%, the S&P 500 index SPX, +1.16% is up more than 12%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.80% is up nearly 33%.
