PANW Stock: Palo Alto Earnings Handily Beat Views, Guidance Mixed

Palo Alto Networks (PANW) on Tuesday reported fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street targets. PANW stock climbed as  growth in next-generation, annual recurring revenue from cloud products beat views.

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The cybersecurity firm said profit rose 81% year over year to $1.05 per share on an adjusted basis. Including acquisitions, revenue rose 26% to $1.7 billion. Analysts expected earnings of 78 cents a share on sales of $1.65 billion.

Billings rose 26% to $2 billion, topping estimates of $1.96 billion.

PANW Stock: Cloud Products A Bright Spot

Next-generation annual recurring revenue rose 63% to $2.33 billion, topping estimates of $2.25 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, Palo Alto projected earnings of 92 cents a share on revenue in a range of $1.69 billion to $1.72 billion. Analysts had estimated profit of 79 cents a share on revenue of $1.74 billion.

Palo Alto also raised its revenue outlook for next-generation cloud-based software products to a range of $2.75 billion to $2.8 billion. That topped earlier guidance of $2.65 billion to $2.7 billion.

Palo Alto stock rose 5.2% to 176.53 in extended trading on the stock market today.

PANW stock has advanced 19% thus far in 2023. It holds a Relative Strength Rating of 67 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup.

Meanwhile, the company has spent over $3.4 billion making 10 acquisitions over the past three years. With roots in the “firewall” network security market, Palo Alto aims to build a broad cloud-based security platform.

Firewall appliances protect computer networks by blocking online intrusions and monitoring web-based apps.

Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on 5G wireless, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.

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