Zscaler stock sinks 13% in afterhours trade on cautious profit outlook

Investing.com -- Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results but saw its stock plummet 13% after hours due to disappointing profit guidance for the upcoming fiscal year.

The cloud security company posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.88, surpassing analyst estimates of $0.70. Revenue for the quarter reached $592.9 million, a 30% YoY increase and above the consensus estimate of $567.46 million.

Despite the strong quarterly performance, Zscaler's outlook for fiscal 2025 fell short of expectations. The company forecasts full-year adjusted earnings of $2.81 to $2.87 per share, below the $3.01 analysts were anticipating. Revenue guidance of $2.60 billion to $2.62 billion was in line with estimates.

"We ended a successful Fiscal 2024 with Q4 results exceeding the high end of our guidance across all metrics," said Jay Chaudhry, Chairman and CEO of Zscaler.

"Customers adoption of our Zero Trust Exchange platform is stronger than ever, and I'm thrilled to share that we have achieved a major milestone with our cloud platform surpassing over half a Trillion transactions daily."

For the first quarter of fiscal 2025, Zscaler expects revenue between $604 million and $606 million, slightly above consensus. However, its adjusted EPS forecast of $0.62 to $0.63 falls short of the $0.73 analysts were expecting.

The company's deferred revenue, an indicator of future growth, increased 32% YoY to $1.895 billion. Cash flow from operations was $203.6 million, representing 34% of revenue.

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