Palo Alto Networks, Urban Outfitters, Intuit All Beat Expectations

Next-generation security company Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) surprised to the upside on both top and bottom lines after the closing bell today. The company's fiscal Q1 2018 earnings per share reached 74 cents, better than the Zacks consensus estimate of 68 cents per share, as well as 34.5% higher than the year-ago quarter. Revenues in the quarter of $505.5 million easily topped the $488.4 million expected, up 27% year over year.

Guidance for both 2nd quarter full fiscal year 2018 were ratcheted up, as well: quarterly guidance of 78-80 cents per share is above the 77 cent Zacks consensus, and the full-year range of $3.35-3.41 per share tops the $3.27 per share we had been looking for.

Also, Palo Alto Networks has finally announced its new CFO to replace the retiring Steffan Tomlinson: Kathy Bonnano, an in-house financial planning executive who has been with the company since 2014. In her remarks, Bonnano called Palo Alto "the market disruptor, [with] a unique opportunity to continue to take share at scale."

All told, this is a fine quarter for the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company, whose shares rose in the after-market immediately upon the earnings release. PANW is currently trading up close to 7% in late trading. The company's stock suffered a huge drop back in early March of this year, but has gained roughly 17.5% year to date.

Palo Alto Networks was also named one of the Top Stock Picks for the Week of November 20th.

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) also beat expectations on both top and bottom lines after the closing bell today, putting up 41 cents per share on an all-time record $893 million in sales. These outpaced expectations of 33 cents and $857.5 million, respectively. Even after shares had been climbing more than 11% over the last week, URBN is up another 2% in late Monday trading. For more on URBN's Q3 earnings, click here.

Finally, electronic finance firm Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) outperformed expectations on top and bottom lines, posting 11 cents per share which beat the Zacks consensus by 6 cents, where revenues of $886 million topped our $856 million expected. For more on INTU's earnings, click here.

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