Israel cybersecurity company Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) finished the first quarter of 2019 with slightly higher revenue and profit than the analysts' forecasts. Check Point's revenue totaled $472 million in the quarter, 4.3% more than the corresponding quarter last year, and its non-GAAP net profit was $1.32 per share, $0.01 more than the forecasts. However, Check Point's share price was down 5.8% in premarket trading on Nasdaq at $122.
Revenue from security subscriptions totaled $144 million, 13.1% more than in the first quarter of 2018, while revenue from products and licenses dropped 4.5% to $113 million. Revenue from software updates and maintenance was up 3.9% to $215 million.
According to GAAP accounting rules, an increase in operating expenses caused operating profit to drop 3.5% to 206 million. GAAP net profit totaled $180 million in the first quarter of 2019, compared with $187 million in the corresponding quarter last year.
On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes various accounting items, among them the cost of capital remuneration for employees, acquisition expenses, and write-downs on intangible assets, Check Point posted a $205 million net profit in the first quarter, 2.1% less than in the first quarter of 2018.
Check Point generated $379 million in cash flow from current activity in the first quarter, and spend $305 million on buying back its own shares at an average price of $112, compared with its current share price of $122, which reflects a $20.2 billion market cap. This makes Check Point the most valuable of any Israeli public company. Check Point had $4.2 billion in cash and investments at the end of the first quarter.
"We had good results in the first quarter, with 13% growth in revenue from subscriptions, including our advanced solutions for the cloud and mobile communications and SandBlast Zero Day for prevention of threats," said Check Point cofounder and CEO Gil Shwed. He added that the company had launched a large number of new products in the first quarter.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 18, 2019
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