The end of an earnings season can be a great time to discover new stocks and assess how companies are handling the current business environment. Let’s take a look at how Rapid7 (NASDAQ:RPD) and the rest of the cybersecurity stocks fared in Q1.
Cybersecurity continues to be one of the fastest-growing segments within software for good reason. Almost every company is slowly finding itself becoming a technology company and facing rising cybersecurity risks. Businesses are accelerating adoption of cloud-based software, moving data and applications into the cloud to save costs while improving performance. This migration has opened them to a multitude of new threats, like employees accessing data via their smartphone while on an open network, or logging into a web-based interface from a laptop in a new location.
The 9 cybersecurity stocks we track reported a strong Q1. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 1.6% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line.
Thankfully, share prices of the companies have been resilient as they are up 5.6% on average since the latest earnings results.
Rapid7 (NASDAQ:RPD)
With its name inspired by the need for quick responses to cyber threats, Rapid7 (NASDAQ:RPD) provides cybersecurity software and services that help organizations detect vulnerabilities, monitor threats, and respond to security incidents.
Rapid7 reported revenues of $209.7 million, flat year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 0.8%. Despite the top-line beat, it was still a mixed quarter for the company with an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates but EPS guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations.
“As frontier models reshape the cybersecurity landscape, Rapid7’s AI SOC and preemptive security infrastructure are more essential than ever,” said Corey Thomas, CEO of Rapid7.
Rapid7 scored the highest full-year guidance raise but had the slowest revenue growth of the whole group. Unsurprisingly, the stock is up 9.9% since reporting and currently trades at $7.34.
Read our full report on Rapid7 here, it’s free.
Best Q1: Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)
Founded in 2005 by security visionary Nir Zuk who sought to reimagine firewall technology, Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) provides AI-powered cybersecurity platforms that protect organizations’ networks, clouds, and endpoints from sophisticated threats.
Palo Alto Networks reported revenues of $3.00 billion, up 31.1% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 2%. The business had a very strong quarter with an impressive beat of analysts’ billings and EBITDA estimates.
