Check Point Software (CHKP) 2021 Q1 Financial Results Preview

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) was established by Gil Shwed in 1993. The company is behind the development of the IT industry’s first firewall technology called FireWall-1. It also developed VPN-1, one of the world’s first VPNs. Today, Check Point Software is a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions to businesses and governments, protecting its clients from cyber-attacks and malware.

The Israel-based company on Monday announced its financial results for the first quarter. Check Point Software reported earnings of $182.9 million or $1.33 per share for the three months ended March 31, up from $178.7 million, or $1.23 per share in the comparable period of 2020.

Excluding certain items, CHKP reported adjusted earnings of $1.54 per share, representing a surge of 9 percent from $1.42 per share in the year-ago quarter. Analysts on average were looking for adjusted earnings of $1.50 per share. Revenue for the quarter rose 4 percent on a year-over-year basis to $507.6 million, leaving behind the consensus forecast of $502.0 million.

Commenting on the quarter, CEO Gil Shwed said in a statement, “We are pleased with our first quarter 2021 financial results. Revenues and non-GAAP earnings per share were toward the high-end of our guidance with CloudGuard bolstering this success with nice double-digit growth. The cyber threat landscape is reaching new levels of risk and requires a holistic security architecture to prevent the next cyber pandemic. Our Infinity architecture can uniquely address these needs and consolidate security for the user, the network and the cloud to prevent Gen V cyber-attacks.”

Check Point Software (CHKP) shares marginally moved down despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. Overall, CHKP stock hasn’t gained much value in recent months. The stock has advanced just around 9 percent during the past 12 months, while it is down more than 11 percent on a year-to-date basis.

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