Check Point meets profit estimates; revenue undershoots
The company posted EPS of $0.29 on revenue of $137.7 million for the first quarter.
Globes correspondent 18 Apr 05 11:42
Network security company Check Point (Nasdaq: CHKP) Point( Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:CHKP - News) made a profit of $73.7 million ($0.29 per share) on revenue of $137.7 million for the first quarter of 2005.
The company's guidance was for a profit of $74-79 million ($0.28-0.29 per share) on revenue of $136-140 million. The consensus analysts' estimate was $0.29 EPS on revenue of $138.86 million.
First quarter revenue was 19% higher than the $116.1 million recorded in the first quarter of 2004. Net profit was 76% higher than in the first quarter of 2004, when it was $41.9 million.
Net profit excluding acquisition related charges was $75.8 million in the first quarter of 2005, representing an increase of 17% compared with $65 million in the first quarter of 2004.
The $0.29 earnings per diluted share in the first quarter of 2005 were 78% higher than the $0.16 earnings per diluted share in the first quarter of 2004. EPS excluding net acquisition related charges was $0.30, representing an increase of 18% compared with $0.25 in the first quarter of 2004.
Deferred revenue increased by $9.1 million to a record $150.2 million, 6% more than deferred revenues at the end of 2004.
During the first quarter of 2005, Check Point purchased 2.1 million shares at a total cost of close to $50 million.
"We are pleased with our first quarter results, which showed significant growth in profits and revenues," said Check Point chairman and CEO Gil Shwed.
"We continued to extend our annuity based revenues which were spearheaded by growing sales of two of our new offerings: ZoneAlarm security services for the consumer segment and SmartDefense real time security updates for our enterprise customers," Shwed added.
Check Point shares closed at $21.80 on Friday, giving the company a market cap of $5.41 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on April 18, 2005
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