The software company just posted its fiscal fourth-quarter results
Zscaler Inc (NASDAQ:ZS) entered the earnings confessional last night, reporting fiscal fourth quarter earnings of $0.05 per share, and a 46% jump in revenue to $125.9 million -- handily beating analysts' estimates. The cloud security company credited a surge in work-form-home sales, leading at least nine analysts to lift their target prices -- the highest coming from Needham to $165 from $130.
Despite this, ZS is slipping ahead of the open, off 1.3% at $132.46. Shaky sentiment surrounding the tech sector certainly isn't helping matters, and ZS is now staring at a one-week deficit of more than 16%. This represents a steep decline off Zscaler stock's all-time peak of $163.80 on Sept. 2. On the other hand, the security still sports a year-to-date lead of roughly 188%, and it appears that steady support at the 40-day moving average has deftly captured several pullbacks during the past couple of months.
Circling back to analyst sentiment, the majority of those in coverage were quite bullish coming into today. Eleven called it a "buy" or better, compared to seven "hold" ratings, while the consensus 12-month price target of $140.68 represented a 4.8% premium to last night's close.
The options pits have been singing a slightly different tune. ZS' 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.47 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) stands higher than 80% of readings from the past year. This suggests the appetite for long puts has been much healthier as of late.
Short sellers are still circling ZS, too. In the last two reporting periods, short interest inched 3.7% higher. Now, the 7.90 million shares sold short make up a healthy 11.1% of the stock's available float.