Palo Alto shares rise on earnings beat, surprising investors who worried about a Friday report

Palo Alto Networks shares jumped as a lot as 9% in prolonged buying and selling on Friday after the safety software program vendor reported earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates.

The inventory had dropped 16% in August main up the report as buyers frightened that the corporate’s resolution to announce outcomes late on a Friday recommended the discharge might embody troublesome numbers.

Here’s how the corporate did for the quarter ended July 31:

• Earnings: $1.44 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.28 per share, adjusted, as anticipated by Refinitiv.
• Revenue: $1.95 billion, vs. $1.96 billion as anticipated by Refinitiv.

Revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter elevated 26% from $1.6 billion a yr earlier, Palo Alto stated. Net earnings climbed to $227.7 million, or 74 cents a share, from $3.3 million, or a penny a share, a yr in the past.

For the primary quarter, Palo Alto expects income of $1.82 billion to $1.85 billion, and gross sales for the yr are anticipated to be $8.15 billion to $8.2 billion. That’s beneath analyst expectations of $1.93 billion for the fiscal first quarter and $8.38 billion for the total yr, in accordance with Refinitiv.

Palo Alto introduced its earnings date on Aug. 2. West coast tech corporations usually report earnings no later within the week than Thursday afternoon, giving buyers a chance to course of the numbers and commerce the inventory primarily based on these outcomes earlier than the tip of the week. Historically, corporations with dangerous news usually bury the numbers after the shut of buying and selling on Friday.

Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, addressed the timing of the discharge on the corporate’s earnings name, and stated it is “made for some very interesting reading” in analyst stories over the previous two weeks.

“We apologize to people who are inconvenienced,” Arora stated, including that the corporate was caught in between a number of occasions. Palo Alto had a board assembly this week and has a convention kicking off on Sunday, and needed to get the numbers out earlier than all these folks collect collectively.

“Sorry to drag you out on a Friday, but I think it’s important for a few thousand people next week that we shared all these results with them,” Arora stated.

WATCH: Jim Cramer interviews Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora