KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed lower on Friday amid mixed regional market performance as investors turned cautious over a possible rate hike by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and upcoming US economic data that may influence the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) interest rate decision next week. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) pared most earlier losses to settle 4.55 points easier, or 0.28 per cent, to 1,616.52 from Thursday’s close of 1,621.07. The benchmark index, which opened 0.37 of-a-point lower at 1,620.70, moved between 1,609.67 and 1,621.25 throughout the day. The broader market was negative, with decliners outpacing advancers 604 to 439. A total of 550 counters were unchanged, 1,151 untraded, and 18 suspended. Turnover declined to 3.17 billion units worth RM2.24 billion from 4.48 billion units worth RM2.75 billion yesterday. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-presiden...
Palo Alto Networks (PANW) shares dropped 3% in after-hours trading as investors were left underwhelmed by the company’s bookings metric, despite strong Q2 revenue growth of 14% to $2.3 billion, beating expectations.
🔹 Key Earnings Highlights
🔹 Revenue: $2.3 billion (above the $2.2B estimate).
🔹 Adjusted EPS: $0.73 (below the $0.78 consensus).
🔹 Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO): $13B for Q2 (in line with $12.96B expected).
📌 Forward Guidance:
- April quarter RPO: $13.5B-$13.6B (analysts expected $13.55B).
- Revenue forecast: $2.26B-$2.29B (vs. $2.27B expected).
📌 What’s Missing?
✔️ RPO growth accelerated to 21%, but the dollar value met expectations without exceeding them, leaving investors wanting more.
📌 Why It Matters:
- Bookings and RPO are key indicators of future revenue, and steady (but not exceptional) growth raised concerns.
🛡️ Platformization Strategy Under Scrutiny
🔹 Palo Alto’s platformization strategy offers free products to drive broader paid adoption, a move CFO Dipak Golechha says is working, but it remains controversial on Wall Street.
🔹 CEO Nikesh Arora highlighted that Q2 results were driven by AI-driven cloud investments and infrastructure modernization, but some investors remain cautious about the long-term payoff of the strategy.
🔍 What’s Next for PANW?
✔️ Watch for platformization results in future quarters to see if free offerings convert to paid subscriptions.
✔️ AI and cloud adoption trends will continue to be growth drivers, but competition is heating up.
✔️ Investor sentiment hinges on improved margins and stronger bookings growth moving forward.
📌 Palo Alto’s solid revenue and AI-driven strategy weren’t enough to offset investor disappointment over bookings, leading to a post-earnings dip.
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