The report sent Palo Alto Networks shares up over 5% in late trading. CEO Nikesh Arora remarked that Palo Alto “continued to benefit from strength across our three security platforms, driven by strong cybersecurity demand, organizations architecting for hybrid work and growing their hyperscale cloud footprints.” Added Arora, “On the back of this strength, notably in our next-generation security offerings, we are raising our guidance for the year across revenue, billings, and earnings per share.” CFO Dipak Golechha remarked, “Total shareholder return was at the forefront of our Q2 results as we continued to deliver on accelerated revenue growth and strong cash flow generation as well as returned capital to shareholders.” Revenue in the three months ending in December rose 30%, year over year, to $1.3 billion, yielding a net profit of $1.74 a share, excluding some costs. Analysts had been modeling $1.28 billion and $1.65 per share. Palo Alto said its “remaining performance obligation,” a measure of the total value of contracts with customers, rose by 36% to $6.3 billion. For the current quarter, the company sees revenue of $1.345 billion to $1.61 billion, and EPS in a range of $1.65 cents to $1.68. That compares to consensus for $1.35 billion and a $1.63 profit per share. For the full year, the company sees revenue in a range of $5.425 billion to $5.475 billion, and EPS of $7.23 to $7.30. That is above an outlook offered in November for $5.35 billion to $5.4 billion, and $7.15 to $7.25 per share. The forecast compares to consensus of $5.39 billion and a $7.23 profit per share.
