Barracuda Networks Inc (NYSE: CUDA) has posted decent performance in the first quarter of FY 18 given the continued momentum with the email security, public cloud and MSP solutions, which had led to 20% core product billings growth year-over-year. The company had strong customer renewals in the first quarter that contributed to an annualized renewal rate of 93% and included expanding a multi-year public cloud engagement with a Fortune 500 customer. On the other hand, the stock lost over 5% in the after-hours session on July 10th, 2017 as the GAAP net income of the group was flat to $2.7 million. The group reported a non-GAAP income of $10 million (excluding stock-based compensation, income tax benefits, amortization and other income as well acquisition charges). But, CUDA stock has risen 30.22% in the last one year (source: Google Finance). According to tipranks.com, 8 analysts have covered the stock while recommending a “Strong Buy”. CUDA has an average price target of $28.60, which is a further upside of 19.17%.
Barracuda Networks in the first quarter of FY 18 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 18 cents. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 9 percent to $94.2 million in the first quarter of FY 18, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $91.3 million. The Subscription revenue grew 13% to $73.9 million, up from $65.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2017, representing 78% of total revenue, and appliance revenue was $20.3 million, compared with $21.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2017.
Moreover, the gross billings were $105.2 million, compared with $98.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2017. The billings for core products has increased 20% to $67.1 million in Q1 FY 18, compared with $55.9 million in the first quarter of FY 17. The number of active subscribers grew approximately 17% to over 335,000 as of May 31, 2017. The renewal rate was 90% on a dollar-basis and in constant currency, and 93% on an annualized basis.
Additionally, in the first quarter of FY 18, has expanded email security suite as the company launched Barracuda Sentinel, a new AI solution that prevents spear phishing and cyber fraud in real time. Barracuda Sentinel combines the powerful artificial intelligence technology, domain fraud protection using DMARC authentication, and fraud simulation training into a comprehensive solution that guards against spear phishing, impersonation attempts, business email compromise (BEC), and cyber fraud. In addition, CUDA has expanded Cloud Ready program to offer organizations a free cloud license for Barracuda Web Application Firewall and Barracuda NextGen Firewall on Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure for 90 days.