Palo Alto Networks shares fall after revenue forecast falls

Palo Alto Networks Inc. shares fell in the extended session Thursday after it topped Wall Street expectations for the quarter, but raised its billings and revenue forecasts for the year slightly without raising forecast earnings per share.

The shares of Palo Alto Networks PANW declined 1% after a drop of 5%. Shares ended the regular session with a 1.2% gain to close at $519.99.

The company reported a first-quarter loss of $103.6 million, or $1.06 a share, compared to a loss of $92.2 million, or 97 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Earnings that exclude share-based compensation charges and other items were $1.64 a share, compared to $1.62 in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose to $1.25 billion from $946 million in the year-ago quarter. Billings, which were reflected on future business under contract, rose to $1.38 billion compared to $1.08 billion a year ago.

Analysts who had been surveyed by FactSet had predicted earnings of $1.57 a share on revenue of $1.2 billion and billings of $1.31 billion. Palo Alto Networks had projected $1.55 to $1.58 a share on revenue of $1.19 billion to $1.21 billion and billings of $1.29 billion to $1.31 billion.

Nikesh Arora, the chairman and chief executive of Palo Alto Networks, said Q 1 was a strong start to fiscal year 2022, driven by strength in both our product and Next-Generation Security businesses, giving us confidence to raise revenue and billings guidance for the year.

Palo Alto Networks kept its adjusted earnings forecast from $7.15 to $7.25 a share, and increased its forecast revenue range to between $5.35 billion and $5.4 billion, up from $5.28 billion to $5.33 billion for the year. The revenue of $5.31 billion is estimated to be $5.24 by analysts.

The company has raised its forecast billings from $6.6 billion to $6.65 billion, while analysts forecast $6.65 billion.

The shares of Palo Alto Networks have gone up 85% over the past 12 months. The ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF HACK is up 36%, the S&P 500 index SPX is up 32% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP is up 35%.