FireEye Inc. reported in-line results for the first quarter Tuesday, but the cybersecurity company’s forecast for the current quarter slipped under the Wall Street consensus.
FireEye FEYE, +1.33% shares closed Tuesday up 1.3% at $16.02, while the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.10% closed up less than 0.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.81% finished down 0.7%. The stock was down 3.3% premarket Wednesday.
“We grew in every geography, everything kind of did what we expected,” FireEye Chief Executive Kevin Mandia said in an interview. “We launched Expertise On Demand. I do believe most security folks like a backstop that’s a click away and it was our first quarter of having that.”
The company reported a first-quarter loss of $75.4 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with a loss of $71.8 million, or 39 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The adjusted loss was 3 cents a share. FireEye had forecast an adjusted loss of 4 cents to 2 cents a share, while analysts polled by FactSet had expected an adjusted loss of 3 cents a share.
Revenue rose to $210.5 million from $199.1 million in the year-ago quarter. The company had guided for revenue of $208 million to $212 million, while analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast revenue of $210.2 million.
Billings, which reflects future business under contract, were up 4% to $182 million from a year ago, topping both the company’s outlook and Wall Street estimates. FireEye had forecast billings of $170 million to $180 million for the first quarter, and analysts had forecast billings of $176 million.
For the second quarter, FireEye expects adjusted earnings of 1 cent to 3 cents a share on revenue of $212 million to $216 million, and billings of $205 million to $220 million, while analysts expected adjusted earnings of 4 cents a share on revenue of $216 million and billings of $213 million.
Frank Verdecanna, FireEye’s chief financial officer and chief accounting officer, told MarketWatch in an interview that the year-ago second quarter had a $10 million-plus deal, which throws off comparisons.
“The key metric for the business is billings, revenue is kind of the trailing indicator,” Verdecanna said. “And we do have some revenue that’s up front with certain products and so from a quarterly basis you can’t really time exactly how much revenue is coming into any one quarter, but for the full year we’re guiding to the same number.”
For the year, FireEye sees adjusted earnings of 17 cents to 21 cents a share on revenue of $880 million to $890 million and billings of $915 million to $935 million. Analysts expect 19 cents a share, revenue of $885.8 million, and billings of $919.6 million.
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