Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) slipped to a loss in the first quarter of 2020 from a profit last year, due to higher costs and expenses. Despite the results exceeding analysts’ expectations, the company guided second-quarter earnings below consensus estimates.
Net loss was $59.6 million or $0.62 per share compared to a loss of $38.3 million or $0.41 per share in the previous year quarter. Adjusted earnings decreased by 10% to $1.05 per share. Revenue jumped by 18% to $771.9 million. This was driven by an 18% jump in the total billings to $897.4 million.
Looking ahead into the second quarter, the company expects billings to grow by 16-17% to the range of $985 million to $1 billion, and revenue to increase by 18-19% to $838-848 million. Adjusted earnings are anticipated to be in the range of $1.11 to $1.13 per share for the second quarter.
For fiscal 2020, Palo Alto predicts billings to grow by 18-19% to the range of $4.105-4.165 billion and revenue to rise by 19-20% to the range of $3.44-3.48 billion. Adjusted earnings are anticipated to be in the range of $4.90 to $5.00 per share.
In a separate release, Palo Alto said it agreed to buy Aporeto Inc., a machine identity-based micro-segmentation company. Under the terms of the agreement, the company will pay about $150 million in cash to acquire Aporeto. The acquisition is expected to close during Palo Alto Networks fiscal second quarter.
The proposed acquisition of Aporeto will further strengthen the company’s Cloud Native Security Platform delivered by Prisma Cloud. Aporeto identifies workloads and applies micro-segmentation across all infrastructures, helping customers secure their applications at scale.
Also, the company expects the proposed acquisition to further extend its leadership in cloud security. The company’s Next-Gen Security offerings performed extremely well in its first quarter, bolstering its confidence in long-term prospects for Prisma and Cortex.
