Palo Alto Networks CEO addresses Friday earnings experiment: ‘Lesson learnt’

“Lesson learnt :)”

After spooking Wall Street for weeks with its plans to report earnings after Friday’s closing bell, Palo Alto Networks Inc.’s mysterious move turned out to be much ado about nothing. 

Some analysts were fearing trouble at Palo Alto Networks PANW, +0.47%, especially after fellow cybersecurity company Fortinet Inc. FTNT, +1.49% delivered a downbeat report earlier in the cycle and Palo Alto teased that its own call would last about two hours. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives didn’t mince words in his preview note, writing that the decision to post results late Friday was “one of the biggest PR disasters and black eyes they have seen in decades of covering tech.”

See also: Why is Palo Alto Networks reporting earnings Friday afternoon? The strange timing draws speculation.

Going back to 2018, only one member of the S&P 500 index SPX posted earnings on a Friday, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That was Nike Inc. NKE, -2.67% in December 2020, and while the report from Nike brought good news, Wall Street was still fearful headed into Palo Alto Networks’ report given the unconventional scheduling.

But results turned out to be fine, as Palo Alto beat earnings expectations and largely topped estimates with its guidance.

Palo Alto Networks shares sunk about 18% between when the company announced its earnings date, toward the start of the month, and Friday’s close, before the release came out. That selloff came during a period when tech stocks in general were under pressure, though the Nasdaq 100 index NDX was down only about 6% in the period.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks rallied sharply after the latest results, however, up more than 11% in Friday’s extended session.

Palo Alto Networks Chief Executive Nikesh Arora suggested on the earnings call that he thought the company had been clear enough in its rationale for the Friday afternoon timing.

“We apologize to people who are inconvenienced,” he said at the top of his prepared remarks, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense/Sentieo. “But as they had mentioned in their press release, they wanted to give ample time to analysts to have one-on-one calls with us over the weekend, and they have a sales conference that kicks off on Sunday. They want to make sure all of their information was disclosed out there.”

He added some more lighthearted remarks, including to say that the company “enjoyed the attention” and that analyst reports that speculated on the timing “made for some very interesting reading.” Arora said that analysts might tell future mentees about the unusual Friday event, which came out of the company’s “sort of misdirected sense of trying to get you guys to go do this over the weekend for us.”

Arora shared on X, the service formerly known as Twitter, that 5,500 people had dialed into the company’s call about two hours into it, whereas average attendance over the past five years was about 1,000.

But would the company do it all again? Presumably not, he suggested.

Wallace Witkowski contributed reporting.

Palo Alto shares rise on earnings beat, surprising investors who panic about a Friday report

Arora Nikesh, Palo Alto Networks CEO & Chairman at the WEF in Davos, Switzerland on May 23rd, 2022.

Adam Galica | CNBC

Palo Alto Networks shares jumped as much as 9% in extended trading on Friday after the security software vendor reported earnings that exceeded analysts' estimates.

The stock had dropped 16% in August leading up the report as investors panic that the company's decision to announce results late on a Friday suggested the release may include troublesome numbers.

Here's how the company did for the quarter ended July 31:

Revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter increased 26% from $1.6 billion a year earlier, Palo Alto said. Net income climbed to $227.7 million, or 74 cents a share, from $3.3 million, or a penny a share, a year ago.

For the first quarter, Palo Alto expects revenue of $1.82 billion to $1.85 billion, and sales for the year are expected to be $8.15 billion to $8.2 billion. That's below analyst expectations of $1.93 billion for the fiscal first quarter and $8.38 billion for the full year, according to Refinitiv.

Palo Alto announced its earnings date on Aug. 2. West coast tech companies typically report earnings no later in the week than Thursday afternoon, giving investors an opportunity to process the numbers and trade the stock based on those results before the end of the week. Historically, companies with bad news often bury the numbers after the close of trading on Friday.

Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, addressed the timing of the release on the company's earnings call, and said it's "made for some very interesting reading" in analyst reports over the past two weeks.

"We apologize to people who are inconvenienced," Arora said, adding that the company was caught in between a few events. Palo Alto had a board meeting this week and has a conference kicking off on Sunday, and wanted to get the numbers out before all those people gather together.

"Sorry to drag you out on a Friday, but I think it's important for a few thousand people next week that they shared all these results with them," Arora said.

WATCH: Jim Cramer interviews Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora

Palo Alto Networks stock jumps on earnings, guidance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks (PANW) jumped in after-hours trading. The cybersecurity company reported fiscal fourth adjusted quarter earnings that handily beat Wall Street estimates, while revenue was just shy of expectations. The company also issued upbeat full-year guidance. Constellation Research Founder Ray Wang says the company is "doing well" but "the challenge is the macro-environment. Budgets are being re-directed from cybersecurity to AI." Wong says Palo Alto is benefiting from putting "the best portfolio in the marketplace for customers to buy so that they don't have to go to all these different point solutions." However, Wong thinks the stock is going to be "challenged for the rest of the year" due to companies shifting their spending to AI.

SEANA SMITH: Shares of Palo Alto Networks trading up just about 5% right now after reporting Q4 earnings. Now, lots of hype going into this report. Let's first get to the numbers, then I'll tell you why.

So when you take a look at this report, it was mixed on the top and bottom line. You're looking at sales coming in at just around $2 billion that beat the Street's expectations, I believe. When you take a look at your sales-- excuse me. Missing here just by a bit. $1.95 billion estimate. There was for $1.96 billion.

EPS, though, coming in better than expected $1.44. Estimate was for $1.28. But the guidance here is really what's critical. And I think it's almost a sigh of relief that we're seeing from the Street because they were bracing themselves for a disastrous report. But 2024 billings forecast, $10.9 billion to $11 billion, that beat the Street's expectations of $10.77 billion.

When it comes to Q1 revenue outlook, though, that coming in just a bit light here. When you take a look at what they are expecting there, they see Q1 revenue at $1.82 billion to $1.85 billion. The Street was looking for $1.92 billion.

So billings forecast topping expectations. They saw the stock sell off over the last 2 days or so because there was lots of concern about what they would be hearing in this report. So let's get analyst reaction to that. And they want to bring in Ray Wang, Constellation Research principal analyst and founder. Ray, your first take.

Story continues

RAY WANG: Yeah, they put out a Friday night special. Everybody got nervous. It felt like it was going to be some kind of political campaign where you make the announcements on a Friday and hope no one notices on the weekend.

But I think it was really a lot to do with Fortinet having bad forecasts going towards the future. And I think that spooked everyone on the market. But the good news is that they're doing well. They're definitely one of the leaders when you look at enterprise security and if you look at cybersecurity stocks.

The challenge is the macro environment. Budgets are being redirected from AI-- from cybersecurity to AI. And that's really the challenge in every single organization. Boards are going to AI first. And it's having an impact across the sector. They've managed to weather this AI onslaught much better than everyone else. And that's why their forecasts are where they are.

DIANE KING HALL: So, Ray, I know one of the concerns coming into this was, oh, there could possibly be an executive change, or. You know, it was just very dramatic coming into these results. I mean, you rarely see this what they usually call a Friday night data dump. So given that where it is, they kind of see a sigh of relief in the aftermarket. What do you-- what do you think about-- like, what are you expecting to hear on their earnings call? What are you looking for?

RAY WANG: Yeah, I think people want to understand if CISOs are still buying. I think they want to understand if there's an AI story that's going to be in place, which they do have, which is going to make it easier for CISOs and/or enterprises to manage their environments. They also want to know, you know, what they're doing to cut costs as well going forward.

So everyone's been on their cost posture. I think those are probably the three important things. The larger macro forecast in general is it's hard to beat the comps of the last 2 years. Everybody doubled down on cybersecurity like there was no tomorrow. And trying to match those comps aren't an easy thing to do.

SEANA SMITH: Ray, where do they stand in the broader space? Because when they talk about so much concern going into this report yesterday of reporting after the bell on Friday but also their competitor, the rival Fortinet also reported disappointing results. So what does this tell us just how Palo Alto is positioned among the broader industry?

RAY WANG: I think it's because Palo Alto has a broader portfolio. And when you look at what's happening inside every enterprise right now, they're trying to reduce the number of vendors they work with. They're trying to reduce the complexity, which means the integration cost of working with more than one vendor.

And so what Palo Alto has done is probably put the best portfolio in the marketplace for customers to buy so that they don't have to go to all these different point solutions. And I think that's really where their strength has been is managing that portfolio better than everyone else, managing M&A better than everyone else. And that's where the inherent advantage is.

DIANE KING HALL: And so, Ray, I want to ask you, in terms of where the stock stands, it's-- obviously, there was a lot of selling heading into this result. Do you think it's positioned for greater growth through the balance of the year?

RAY WANG: I think it's going to be challenged for the rest of the year. They do have a great dip at the moment. I think the rundown that was going on here, I think there were down 19% for the year. And the NASDAQ was down about, what, 7% to 8%. It's a good time if someone had got in, like, today. So they're a little bit late there.

But I would say that-- you know-- I mean, it's going to be flat for a while because the forecast going forward for Q3, Q4 are all impacted by everyone running to AI and spending the money in budgets in AI. And that's really the challenge. I think going forward, there's going to be other kind of security threats are going to be in place. And, of course, the spending on cybersecurity has always been pretty strong. It is the number one issue every CIO focused on last year. It is now the number two issue because of AI.

DIANE KING HALL: All right, Ray Wang of Constellation Research. Thanks so much for joining us for a Friday night special.