Proofpoint, Inc. (PFPT) saw its loss narrow to $22.88 million, or $0.54 a share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. In the previous year period, the company reported a loss of $27.39 million, or $0.68 a share. On an adjusted basis, net profit for the quarter stood at $8.49 million, or $0.18 a share compared with a net loss of $0.38 million, or $0.01 a share in the last year period.
Revenue during the quarter surged 42.52 percent to $106.80 million from $74.94 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 395 basis points over the previous year period to 72.07 percent. Operating margin for the quarter stood at negative 15.10 percent as compared to a negative 28.08 percent for the previous year period.
Operating loss for the quarter was $16.13 million, compared with an operating loss of $21.05 million in the previous year period.
However, the adjusted operating income for the quarter stood at $9.90 million compared to $1.02 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted operating margin improved 791 basis points in the quarter to 9.27 percent from 1.36 percent in the last year period.
"We were very pleased with our strong fourth quarter results, which capped off another record year for the company," stated Gary Steele, chief executive officer of Proofpoint. "During the quarter, the better-than-expected results were driven by the ongoing robust demand for our advanced threat solutions, high competitive win rates, traction with new products, robust add-on activity and consistently high renewal rates. The company remains well-positioned to maintain momentum in 2017 and beyond as enterprises continue to select Proofpoint’s cloud-based advanced threat protection solution over legacy alternatives, given our proven capability in handling today’s advanced security threats."
For fiscal year 2017, Proofpoint projects revenue to be in the range of $488 million to $492 million. Proofpoint expects net loss to be in the range of $121.40 million to $113.30 million and forecasts adjusted net income to be in the range of $23 million to $25 million. The company forecasts diluted loss per share to be in the range of $2.57 to $2.75 and forecasts diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.49 to $0.52 on adjusted basis.
For the first-quarter, Proofpoint projects revenue to be in the range of $109 million to $111 million. Proofpoint expects net loss to be in the range of $31.60 million to $28.50 million and forecasts adjusted net income to be in the range of $3 million to $4 million. The company forecasts diluted loss per share to be in the range of $0.66 to $0.73. On an adjusted basis, the company forecasts diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.07 to $0.09.
Operating cash flow improves significantly
Proofpoint, Inc. has generated cash of $94.24 million from operating activities during the year, up 102.64 percent or $47.73 million, when compared with the last year.
The company has spent $89.23 million cash to meet investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $102.86 million in the last year.
The company has spent $5.24 million cash to carry out financing activities during the year as against cash inflow of $223.19 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $345.43 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, down 0.23 percent or $0.78 million from $346.20 million on Dec. 31, 2015.
Debt moves up
Proofpoint, Inc. has witnessed an increase in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $366.66 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 6.02 percent or $20.81 million from $345.85 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Total debt was 45.74 percent of total assets as on Dec. 31, 2016, compared with 50.65 percent on Dec. 31, 2015. Debt to equity ratio was at 8.24 as on Dec. 31, 2016, up from 5.73 as on Dec. 31, 2015.
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