Palo Alto Networks shares rise after earnings report

Shares of Palo Alto Networks rose 12% in pre-market trading Monday, continuing a rally that began when the security software vendor reported stronger than expected fiscal fourth quarter earnings last week.

The company reported adjusted quarterly earnings per share of $1.44 versus a Refinitiv analyst consensus of $1.28 per share. While Palo Alto missed consensus estimates for revenue, which came in at $1.95 billion versus $1.96 billion for the quarter ended July 31, the company said that revenue increased 26% compared to the year-ago quarter.

There had been some concern among analysts that Palo Alto was slated to report bad news alongside its earnings, since it scheduled its earnings release date for after-the-bell Friday. Historically, it’s a scheduling slot sometimes adopted by companies with poor numbers to report. As a result, Palo Alto stock fell as far as $208.02 after it announced its earnings release date.

The pre-market rally means that Palo Alto’s shares have largely recovered from the plunge. Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora described the pre-earnings concern as making for “some very interesting reading” in analyst reports.

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