Why Zscaler’s Q3 Is So Great

June 7, 2018 by Chris Lange

When Zscaler Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS) released its most recent quarterly report after the markets closed on Wednesday, the company posted a net loss of $0.02 per share and $49.2 million in revenue. The consensus estimates had called for a net loss of $0.08 per share on revenue of $46 million. The fiscal third quarter of last year had a net loss of $0.05 per share and $32.96 million in revenue.

During the quarter, calculated billings grew 73% year over year to $54.7 million and deferred revenue grew 61% to $124.8 million.

Looking ahead to the fiscal fourth quarter, the company expects to see a net loss per share of $0.05 or $0.06 and total revenues in the range of $50 million to $51 million. The consensus estimates call for a net loss of $0.10 per share and $48.5 million in revenue.

On the books, Zscaler cash and cash equivalents totaled $287.4 million at the end of the quarter, up from $87.98 million at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Jay Chaudhry, board chair and chief executive of Zscaler, commented:

In our first quarter as a public company, we delivered very strong revenue and billings growth, as well as a solid year over year improvement in operating performance. Our results reflect the strength of our security cloud platform and the momentum we’re seeing as our customers embrace and accelerate their cloud transformation.  We are also very pleased to generate positive free cash flow for the quarter.  We have the opportunity to dramatically change the legacy security market and to significantly reduce the costs of networking and security infrastructure.

Shares of Zscaler were last seen up about 26% to $38.75, with a consensus analyst price target of $30.92 and a 52-week trading range of $24.76 to $42.16.

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