Zscaler stock climbs 20% on Friday: explained here

Zscaler Inc (NASDAQ: ZS) is up about 20% on Friday after the cybersecurity company reported better-than-expected Q4 and issued strong guidance for the future.

Zscaler Q4 financial highlights

• Lost $97.7 million versus the year-ago $81 million
• Per-share earnings climbed from 59 cents to 69 cents
• On an adjusted basis, earned 25 cents per share
• Revenue jumped 61% year-on-year to $318.1 million
• Calculated billings climbed to $520.4 million
• Consensus was 21 cents EPS (adj) on $305.4 million revenue

CEO Chaudhry’s remarks

Zscaler ended the quarter with $1.73 billion of cash, equivalents, and short-term investments. In the earnings press release, CEO Jay Chaudhry said:

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Our customers are realising immense value from the new, innovative services and advances capabilities being integrated into our Zero Trust security platform.

Wall Street recommends that you buy Zscaler stock as it has upside to $210.

Zscaler’s guidance for the future

For the full financial year, Zscaler expects $1.16 to $1.18 of adjusted per-share earnings on about $1.50 billion in revenue. In comparison, experts had forecast $1.04 on $1.47 billion, respectively.

Its Q1 forecast was also ahead of estimates. Chaudhry added:

Despite the uncertain macroeconomic landscape which continues to evolve, we continue to see favourable demand for our Zero Trust Exchange platform because it makes businesses more secure, simplifies IT, and reduces cost.

Also on Friday, Zscaler committed to net zero emissions by 2025. The cybersecurity stock is still down nearly 40% for the year.