CheckPoint's Revenue Jumps

Check Point Software Technologies Monday posted impressive earnings for its third quarter ended Sept. 30.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based Internet security vendor reported revenue of $129.3 million, a 22 percent increase vs. the $106.3 million in revenue for the third quarter last year.

The increase was primarily led by licensing growth, which rose 25 percent compared with the same quarter last year, said CFO Eyal Desheh.

Strong sales of Check Point's VPN-1 and FireWall-1 products also contributed to the increase, and the vendor's consumer sales numbers played a big role as well, said Jerry Ungerman, president.

"It appears that consumers have accepted the advice of Microsoft that even if they install [Microsoft Service Pack 2], they should still use a third-party security solution to make sure the end point is secured," said Ungerman.Ungerman praised Check Point's channel partners as an integral part of the vendor's third-quarter 2004 success. "Our channels are part of our sales organization," he said. "We want to ensure we provide the level of resources and capabilities that our channels need to represent us in the market."

Check Point's net income for the third quarter came in at $66.8 million, an increase of 18 percent compared with $58.4 million for the year-ago period.

Desheh pointed out that net income for third-quarter 2004 would have been $69.1 million had it not been for charges related to the December 2003 acquisition of VPN security vendor Zone Labs.

Earnings per diluted share for the third quarter were 26 cents, an increase of 17 percent compared with 23 cents for the year-ago period.