EVENTS:   Best Equity Short Ideas Conference Call 12 - Zach Shannon/Corto Capital Advisors & Craig Huber/Huber Research Partners & Thomas Beevers /Forensic Alpha & Ed Steele/Iron Blue Financials & Bill Campbell/Paragon Intel - 12 Nov 25   Will AI Deflate the World? Macro Lessons from Three Industrial Revolutions and China - Manoj Pradhan/Talking Heads Macro - 13 Nov 25     ROADSHOWS: Forest Products Sector Equity and Commodity Research With Expertise in Distressed Debt - Kevin Mason /ERA Research   •   London   12 - 14 Nov 25       Buyside to Buyside Forum and Expert Calls across TMT, Consumer, Healthcare and Fintech - Andrew Peters /Revelare Partners   •   London   17 - 19 Nov 25       Fundamental US Healthcare Short Ideas - Dr Elliot Favus /Favus Institutional Research   •   London   17 - 19 Nov 25      

Fortnightly Publication Highlighting Latest Insights From IRF Providers

Company Research

Check Point Software (CHKP)

Technology

Verbatim Advisory Group

Verbatim’s initial channel checks indicate that Q2 trends are drastically weaker on a Y/Y basis by 30% on average. Strong competitor offerings, lack of perceived need for advanced security solutions and budget constraints are reasons for lost sales. Q3 trends are also expected to be mostly weaker Y/Y. Verbatim also hears that there are no additional marketing efforts from CHKP to boost the sales pipeline. The company is either losing or having no changes in market share. While Fortinet seems to be gaining traction, particularly in the SMB space, they hear that Palo Alto is making headway in larger companies.

Edition: 190

- 12 July, 2024


Cybersecurity: Potential SEC investigations

Technology

Veritas Investment Research

Last October the SEC charged SolarWinds and its chief information security officer with fraud. This report looks at other companies in the cybersecurity industry that may have similar risks to an SEC investigation. Based on Veritas' Freedom of Information Act work, they received confirmations from the SEC pertaining to 15 publicly-listed cybersecurity stocks. Out of the 15 issuers confirmed, 2 attracted SEC scrutiny. Stocks mentioned: Palo Alto, CrowdStrike, Fortinet, Zscaler, Cloudflare, Check Point, Okta, Gen Digital, CyberArk, SentinelOne, Qualys, Tenable, Varonis, Rapid7 and SecureWorks.

Edition: 186

- 17 May, 2024


Cybersecurity: Beat-and-raise being replaced by marginal-beat-and-cautious-outlook

Technology

Inflection Point Research, LLC

Economic woes impacting cybersecurity vendors - security projects are being delayed / cancelled at a rate not seen for several years. Following recent earnings, IPR questions whether Tenable will be able to sustain its surprisingly impressive momentum over the next couple quarters. Varonis’ lowered guidance is consistent with IPR’s belief that their offering has shifted to being a like-to-have technology. Qualys and Rapid7’s reliance on vulnerability management must be considered a negative. Meanwhile, Check Point's results underscore IRP's hypothesis that vendor consolidation trends are strong and becoming stronger.

Edition: 148

- 11 November, 2022


Further acceleration in cyber security; other areas of IT spending are mixed

Technology

Sales Pulse Research

SPR's preliminary survey results report strong momentum in Q1, and the majority see continued, or accelerated growth for the rest of the year - consistent with previous views and recent reports, those Security Vendors most called out as seeing strong growth are Palo Alto, Zscaler, CrowdStrike, Fortinet and SentinelOne. Also consistent with views from last quarter, vendors with improving checks include Tenable, Ping Identity and Check Point. In contrast, SaaS vendors are having to work much harder to achieve their goals - SPR’s channels noted that SaaS projects were among those that were being pushed out.

Edition: 134

- 29 April, 2022


Channel contacts report further acceleration of spending on Cyber Security

Technology

Sales Pulse Research

High flying but volatile stocks like Zscaler and CrowdStrike are benefitting, but so are some less volatile vendors. Sales Pulse are seeing unexpected acceleration from…

Check Point (CHKP) - generates impressive cash flow but has lacked innovation and bled market share. Channels now see improvement in execution and benefit from spending by its massive installed base.
F5 (FFIV) - reaping the benefits of 3+ years of working on a broader security solution through organic development and acquisitions.
Tenable (TENB) - picking up a LOT of momentum based on the growing recognition by end users of the need to scan 100% of devices for vulnerabilities. This vendor is also the most direct beneficiary of efforts to address the Log4j vulnerability threat.

Edition: 127

- 21 January, 2022