Palo Alto Networks shares jumped as a lot as 9% in prolonged buying and selling on Friday after the safety software program vendor reported earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates.

The inventory had dropped 16% in August main up the report as buyers nervous that the corporate’s choice to announce outcomes late on a Friday instructed the discharge could embody troublesome numbers.

This is how the corporate did for the quarter ended July 31:

• Earnings: $1.44 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.28 per share, adjusted, as anticipated by Refinitiv.
• Income: $1.95 billion, vs. $1.96 billion as anticipated by Refinitiv.

Income in its fiscal fourth quarter elevated 26% from $1.6 billion a yr earlier, Palo Alto mentioned. Web revenue climbed to $227.7 million, or 74 cents a share, from $3.3 million, or a penny a share, a yr in the past.

For the primary quarter, Palo Alto expects income of $1.82 billion to $1.85 billion, and gross sales for the yr are anticipated to be $8.15 billion to $8.2 billion. That is beneath analyst expectations of $1.93 billion for the fiscal first quarter and $8.38 billion for the total yr, based on Refinitiv.

Palo Alto introduced its earnings date on Aug. 2. West coast tech corporations sometimes report earnings no later within the week than Thursday afternoon, giving buyers a chance to course of the numbers and commerce the inventory primarily based on these outcomes earlier than the tip of the week. Traditionally, corporations with unhealthy information usually bury the numbers after the shut of buying and selling on Friday.

Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, addressed the timing of the discharge on the corporate’s earnings name, and mentioned it is “made for some very attention-grabbing studying” in analyst reviews over the previous two weeks.

“We apologize to people who find themselves inconvenienced,” Arora mentioned, including that the corporate was caught in between a number of occasions. Palo Alto had a board assembly this week and has a convention kicking off on Sunday, and needed to get the numbers out earlier than all these individuals collect collectively.

“Sorry to tug you out on a Friday, however I feel it is essential for a number of thousand individuals subsequent week that we shared all these outcomes with them,” Arora mentioned.

WATCH: Jim Cramer interviews Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora