Cloudflare Inc. shares surged 8% in Thursday’s regular session and were poised to tack on substantial further gains after the company topped expectations with its latest financial results.
The stock jumped 24% in Thursday’s extended session on what Cloudflare
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deemed “exceptionally strong” results for the December period.
The cybersecurity and software company posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $27.9 million, or 8 cents a share, whereas it lost $45.9 million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.
On an adjusted basis, Cloudflare earned 15 cents a share, up from 6 cents a share a year before, while analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting 12 cents a share.
Revenue rose 32% to $363 million, whereas analysts were modeling $353 million.
The company saw significant improvement in pipeline close rates, sales-force productivity and average deal size on a sequential basis, Chief Executive Matthew Prince said in a release. “To close out the year, strength in our business was driven by robust momentum with large customers, significant progress in the public sector and growth in Cloudflare One.”
He said the company’s business was “firing efficiently on all cylinders,” with customers still spending despite macroeconomic uncertainties.
Read: Even Cloudflare’s CEO says that viral firing video is ‘painful.’ Here’s what went wrong.
There was “a lot to like” in the report, according to Piper Sandler analyst James Fish. He said the company outperformed on remaining performance obligations (RPO) and showed traction on non-RPO metrics.
Those factors, along with Cloudflare’s recent execution, “point to the 2024 outlook as likely conservative, which will fuel belief that we are near-bottom and that +30% growth is sustainable,” continued Fish, though he kept a neutral stance on the stock as he looks for a more attractive entry point.
Cloudflare is modeling $372.5 million to $373.5 million in revenue for the current quarter, along with 13 cents in adjusted earnings per share. The FactSet consensus was for $372 million and 12 cents, respectively.
Looking at the full year ahead, Cloudflare anticipates $1.648 billion to $1.652 billion in revenue and 58 cents to 59 cents in adjusted EPS. The FactSet consensus was for $1.65 billion in revenue and 54 cents in adjusted EPS.