
Check Point Software Beats Estimates
SAN FRANCISCO-- IT security company
Check Point Software
(CHKP) - Get Report
beat analysts' expectations for the first quarter as profit rose 67%.
Net income climbed to to $78.3 million, or 36 cents a share, from $46.9 million, or 21 cents a share, a year ago.
Excluding items, Check Point earned $93.4 million, or 43 cents a share, compared with $78.6 million, or 35 cents a share in the first quarter of 2007.
Revenue increased 17% to $191.6 million from $164 million the year before.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of 40 cents a share excluding items on revenue of $186.6 million.
Product and license revenue grew 17% to $77.4 million vs. $66 million in the first quarter of 2007, the company said.
Deferred revenue at the end of the quarter was $278.4 million, an increase of $4.7 million from the previous quarter and a $40 million increase from the same quarter year before.
The company guided second-quarter revenue to $190 million to $200 million and forecast earnings, excluding charges, of 40 cents to 44 cents a share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $194.3 million and EPS of 42 cents.
Shares of Check Point were up 15 cents, or 0.6%, to $22.42 in recent trading.
Shares of Check Point are up 4.4% this year, compared with peers such as
McAfee
( MFE), which is down 4.1% during the same period, and
Symantec
(SYMC) - Get Report
, which is up 9%.








