Israel’s Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., the largest pure-play security vendor globally, reported that its Q4 profit for 2014 beat expectations. It also announced an extension and expansion to the company’s on-going share repurchase program.
Its total revenue for the quarter was $421 million, representing a 9% increase year over year. For the full year 2014 total revenue was $1.496 billion, representing a 7% increase year over year.
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“We completed the year on a high note, with revenues and EPS at the upper-end of our projections. Our data center and small business solutions produced strong results, underscoring our architecture’s ability to address the security needs of customers of any size. Software blades continued to deliver strong growth as more customers adopted our advanced threat prevention technologies. We delivered the Check Point Capsule to secure mobile devices and mobile data, and demonstrated our industry leadership with our Threat Emulation, the only solution to achieve a 100% catch rate for advanced malware, ” said Gil Shwed, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Check Point Software Technologies.
Under the updated repurchase plan, Check Point is authorized to increase the quarterly repurchase of its outstanding shares by 25% up to $250 million and the overall program by 50% to an aggregate of $1.5 billion.
In 2014 it repurchased approximately 11.2 million shares in an aggregate amount of approximately $765 million which represented an average repurchase per quarter of $191 million.
As of December 31, 2014, Check Point has approximately 183.8 million ordinary shares outstanding. Check Point began its share buyback program in 2003, and has since repurchased approximately 115.7 million shares for a total purchase price of approximately $3.8 billion. The new plan replaces the previous repurchase plan adopted in January 2014, which provided for the repurchase of up to $200 million of shares each quarter, up to an aggregate of $1 billion.
“We believe that our market leadership and long term growth prospects make this an effective time to further utilize our cash to increase shareholder value, ” said Tal Payne, chief financial officer of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
Share purchases will take place in open market transactions or in privately negotiated transactions and may be made from time to time depending on market conditions, share price, trading volume, and other factors. Such purchases will be made in accordance with applicable U.S. securities laws and regulations.
