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14 Jan 16. CyberArk shares soar on Check Point takeover report. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) purchased two Israeli companies in 2015 Hyperwise and Lacoon; and reports now suggest it could purchase another in 2016, with CyberArk Software Inc.(Nasdaq:CYBR) share price has surged accordingly on the Nasdaq, up nearly 20% yesterday to $45 to give a market cap of $1.4 billion.
Check Point said the company does not respond to rumors and CyberArk did not comment.
Check Point, founded and run by Gil Shwed, provides information security solutions; it trades on the Nasdaq at a market cap of $14.2bn.
CyberArk, founded and run by Udi Mokady, was first listed on the Nasdaq a year and a half ago; its share price has risen 137% since then. However, since peaking in June 2015, the share price has slid 48.8%.
The company supplies IT solutions focusing on privileged account security. The main stakeholders in CyberArk are Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and Goldman Sachs. Mokady holds 3.1% of CyberArk shares. As of the end of 2014, the company employed 430 workers 180 in Israel and the rest mostly in the US and UK. CyberArk is headquartered in Petah Tikva.
In the first three quarters of 2015, CyberArk reported revenue of $109m a 64% increase compared with the corresponding period of 2014. Net profit rose from $3.3m to $15.9mi and its non-GAAP net profit totaled $28.4m, up 137%. In January to September of 2015, CyberArk created $40.3 million from its operations and concluded that period with $250m in cash.
Analysts expect any acquisition to have a 46% premium.
CyberArk raised $86m on the Nasdaq in September 2014 when it listed at $16 per share. In 2015, it held two secondary offerings in which it raised $450 million, at $51 and $61 per share, respectively.
Its share price at closing the day before the report emerged stood at $37.80. According to Thomson/First Call figures, the average price target analysts have for CyberArk stood at $55.2 per share a 46% premium over market price. (Source: Cyber Security Intelligence/Globes)
14 Jan 16. Slowing data center growth dims Intel’s profit beat. Intel Corp’s (INTC.O) strong quarterly profit beat was overshadowed by concerns about slowing growth in its highly profitable data center business, sending its shares down about 5.6 percent in after-market trading.
Chief Executive Brian Krzanich has looked to weather a slump in demand for chips used in personal computers by focusing on the business of supplying chips for high-end servers.
The world’s largest chipmaker reported data center revenue of $4.31bn in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 26, missing consensus estimate of $4.42bn, according to Jefferies & Co.
Revenue in the business rose only 4 percent from the preceding quarter, compared with the 8 percent growth in the third quarter.
“I think companies are probably not upgrading their own data center as they know they are eventually going to convert to the cloud,” said Kevin Cassidy, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus and Co Inc.
“So they are going to put Band-Aids on their current servers and not upgrade them,” Cassidy said.
Revenue in the personal computer business, which has been battered by weakening demand in the recent past, fell about 1 percent to $8.76bn from a year earlier.
Global personal computer shipments fell 10.6 percent in the quarter ended in December from a year earlier, research firm IDC said on Tuesday, the largest decline since it started tracking PC shipments.
The fourth quarter of 2015 marked the fifth consecutive quarter of worldwide PC shipment decline, according to another research firm Gartner.
Intel completed its $16.7 billion purchase of programmable-chip maker Altera Corp in December, a