3 key takeaways from Zscaler Q4 earnings report

Zscaler Inc (NASDAQ: ZS) said late on Thursday its loss widened in the fiscal fourth quarter. The IT security company, however, noted growth in revenue on a year-over-year basis. Shares of the company were more than 1.0% up in after-hours trading.

Q4 financial performance

Zscaler reported $81 million of net loss in the fourth quarter that translates to 59 cents per share. In the comparable quarter of last year, its net loss was capped at $49.5 million or 38 cents per share.

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On an adjusted basis, the U.S. firm earned 14 cents per share. Zscaler valued its revenue at $197.1 million in the recent quarter versus the year-ago figure of $125.9 million.

According to FactSet, experts had forecast 9 cents of adjusted EPS on $187.8 million in revenue. Last week, Dan Ives said cybersecurity could be the biggest outperformer over the next four to six months.

Guidance for the future

For the full year, Zscaler forecasts 52 cents to 56 cents of per-share earnings on up to $950 million in revenue, including 12 cents of adjusted EPS and up to $212 million in revenue it expects to generate in the current quarter (Q1).

In comparison, the Nasdaq-listed company posted 52 cents of adjusted per-share earnings and $673.1 million in revenue in the recently concluded financial year.

CEO Chaudhry’s remarks

Commenting on the financial update, CEO Jay Chaudhry said:

“We delivered outstanding results for the fourth quarter, with a record number of large deals across diverse sectors driving 57% revenue growth and 70% billings growth year over year, finishing the fiscal year with strong business momentum.”

The earnings report comes days after Wedbush Securities reiterated its ‘buy’ rating on Zscaler and raised its price target from $240 to $320 that represents an about 15% upside from here.