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Check Point (CHKP) Q4 Earnings & Revenues Beat Estimates

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Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter 2020 results, wherein both top and bottom lines beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company’s non-GAAP earnings per share of $2.17 beat the consensus mark of $2.11. The figure also climbed 7% year over year.

Revenues for the reported quarter came in at $564 million, up 4% year on year. Moreover, the figure exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $555.1 million. Growth in SaaS and IaaS cloud solutions drove the top line. In addition, the work-from-home-related solutions — Mobile Access and Sandblast Agent — continued to witness strong traction.

Quarter Details

Subscription revenues came in at $180 million, increasing 10% year over year, on solid demand for its advanced solutions, primarily CloudGuard, Sandblast Zero-day threat prevention and Infinity solutions. During the fourth quarter, the company secured several Infinity deals in various industries, including government, telecommunication and industrial.

Revenues of $161 million from products and licenses inched up 1.7%. Products are currently in the process of transitioning to cloud solutions, which is included in the subscription line.

Total revenues from product and security subscriptions came in at $340 million, up 6% year on year.

Software update and maintenance revenues increased to $224 million from the $222 million reported in the year-ago quarter.

As of Dec 31, 2021, deferred revenues were $1.48 billion, up 7% year over year, reflecting strength in security subscription.

Region wise, the Americas generated 43% of total revenues; Europe, Middle East and Africa accounted for 45%; and the Asia Pacific contributed 12%.

Non-GAAP operating income for the reported quarter came in at $285 million, up 1.8% year over year. Non-GAAP operating margin remained flat at 51%.

Balance Sheet & Other Financial Details

Check Point exited the fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents, marketable securities and short-term deposits of $4 billion compared with the previous quarter’s $3.9 billion.

The company generated cash worth $293 million from operational activities during the fourth quarter and $1.15 billion in full-year 2020.

It repurchased 2.7 million shares for about $323 million during the December-end quarter. During full-year 2020, the company bought back 11.4 million shares for $1.3 billion.

Outlook

Check Point has issued the guidance for first-quarter and full-year 2021. For the ongoing quarter, the company projects revenues between $485 million and $515 million (mid-point $500 million). It forecasts adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.45 to $1.55 (mid-point $1.50). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current-quarter revenues and earnings is pegged at $500.4 million and $1.50 per share, respectively.

For full-year 2021, Check Point estimates revenues to be in the range of $2.08-$2.18 billion and adjusted earnings per share between $6.45 and $6.85. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the ongoing-year revenues and earnings is pegged at $2.11 billion and $6.93 per share, respectively.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Check Point currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include Shopify (SHOP - Free Report) , Zoom Video Communications (ZM - Free Report) and Apple (AAPL - Free Report) , all flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The long-term earnings growth rate for Shopify, Zoom and Apple is currently pegged at 32.5%, 25% and 11.5%, respectively.

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