Allot stock rockets after it posts 4Q revenue above estimates

Shares in Allot Ltd (NASDAQ:ALLT) (TASE:ALLT) climbed briskly Tuesday after the security and smart network intelligence solutions company posted fourth-quarter revenue above estimates.

For the quarter ended December 2018, the company reported a narrower-than-expected loss of $0.01 per share on revenue of $26.9 million. The consensus estimate was a loss of $0.04 per share on revenue of $25.7 million. Revenue grew nearly 16% on a year-over-year basis. 

Investors sent shares of Allot up 10.6% to $7.75 before the opening bell.

READ: Allot partners with European mobile service partner to protect mobile users from malware and phishing

The company said that gross margin improved to 70.3%, up from 68.4% in the same quarter a year ago.

The company said it expects 2019 revenue of $106 million to $110 million, representing continued double-digit year-over-year growth. The current consensus estimate is for revenue of $103.7 million for the year ending December 31, 2019.

Strong order book

“We are very pleased with our performance in 2018, with revenues growing at a faster pace than we had originally expected,” said Allot CEO Erez Antebi. “Our Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) business performed well in 2018, resulting from much improved execution of our teams across the globe. We are also satisfied with our performance in the security space: our pipeline of “security opex deals” is strong and we expect to close several such deals that can bring impact on our future growth beyond 2019.”

Antebi said he had increased confidence in the compnay’s long-term potential: “Following our restructuring and changes, we are now executing better in sales, support and R&D and we look forward to continue to leverage these strengths to create continuing growth in 2019 and beyond.”

Full year book to bill ratio is expected to be above 1. Management expects to close several security subscription-based deals in 2019, in addition to the Tier-1 European deal it recently announced. A Tier-1 European mobile service provider has selected Allot’s NetworkSecure solution to protect the company’s mobile users against growing threats, including malware, phishing, ransomware, and crypto-mining.

The security as a service will be offered to approximately 2.5 million subscribers. Revenues from consumers who choose to sign up for the security solution will be shared between the two companies.

Allot NetworkSecure is the world’s largest deployed network-based security service for the mass market, with over 21 million paying security customers.

Meanwhile, total revenues for 2018 were $95.8 million, up 17% compared to $82 million in 2017. Non-GAAP net loss for 2018 was $5.1 million, or $0.15 per basic share, an improvement compared with a non-GAAP net loss of $8.7 million, or $0.26 per basic share in 2017.

Contact Uttara Choudhury at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive 

Story by ProactiveInvestors