F5 Networks (FFIV) Tops Q1 EPS by 6c; Issues Light Q2 Outlook
F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) reported Q1 EPS of $1.55, $0.06 better than the analyst estimate of $1.49. Revenue for the quarter came in at $462.8 million versus the consensus estimate of $467.25 million.
“In addition to the seasonal softness we normally experience in the first quarter of a new fiscal year, product sales during the quarter reflected a marked decrease in the number of deals greater than $1 million,” said John McAdam, F5 president and chief executive officer. “While this resulted in slower than expected revenue growth for the quarter, the number of large deals in the current pipeline is encouraging and indicates that we should see a resumption of the recent trend toward larger deals in the second quarter.
“From a product perspective we were also encouraged by the continuing strong growth of software revenue, which increased 44 percent year over year. The growing percentage of software as a component of our product offerings highlights increasing customer demand for hybrid solutions that allow greater flexibility in the deployment of application services within and across data centers and out into the cloud.
“During the quarter, we launched two new subscription-based offerings: Versafe, which provides real-time protection against malware, phishing, and other cyberthreats; and Defense.Net, a cloud-based service that provides highly scalable protection against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and complements our existing on-premise DDoS protection capabilities. Later this year, we plan to launch a cloud-based version of Application Security Manager (ASM), our popular web application firewall, which will also be available on a subscription basis. Defense.Net, ASM, and Secure Web Gateway, a malware protection service, will be available as part of Silverline, a cloud-based services delivery platform that leverages the scalability and performance of F5 hardware. Response to these new offerings by customers and partners has been very positive and we expect to see sales of these offerings ramp steadily throughout the year,” McAdam said.
F5 Networks sees Q2 2015 EPS of $1.48-$1.51, versus the consensus of $1.53. F5 Networks sees Q2 2015 revenue of $465-475 million, versus the consensus of $478.9 million.
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