In the full year, the manufacturer’s sales reached $1.8 billion, up 28% year-on-year.
Six months after a sales reorganization, Mark McLaughlin, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, said the security provider is beginning to see “strong gains” from the changes, reporting a 27% increase in fourth quarter sales (4Q).
McLaughlin pointed out that the company is progressing through its reorganization, completing the design, communication and implementation of the new plan and seeing the fruits of those efforts in the fourth quarter results.
McLaughlin said the reorganization of sales was also a big factor in the company’s sales growth during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks reported sales of $509.1 million in the fourth quarter, up 27 percent. The company’s quarterly net loss amounted to $38.2 million compared to $31.4 million in the same quarter last year.
In the full year, Palo Alto Networks achieved sales of $1.8 billion, up 28% year-on-year. The company’s net loss for the full year was $216.6 million, an increase of $23.9 million over the net loss of $192.7 million reported in 2016.
McLaughlin said Palo Alto Networks continued to see its portfolio grow “overall,” including growth in both hardware and subscription services. He said the company now has 1,400 Traps endpoint security customers and continues to “take market share” with its general security platform. Product sales for the quarter were $212.3 million, up 9.9 percent year-on-year. Subscription and support sales were up 29 percent year-on-year to $296.8 million.
The company also expects to launch the Application Framework in 2018, which will be even more disruptive in the market and expand its market share.
Excluding extraordinary items, earnings per share amounted to 92 cents, while the FactSet consensus was expecting a profit of 79 cents per share. Revenue from the computer security firm was $509.1 million, up 27 percent year-on-year, more than the $488-million consensus.
This is the first time a quarterly sales exceeds $500 million.
Palo Alto Network expects a 2018 sales between 2.125 and 2.165 billion dollars, i.e. a growth of 21 to 23%. Adjusted net earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $3.24 – $3.34.
In addition, the CFO announced his retirement but will remain in place until a replacement is found.
