What happened
Shares of Zix (ZIXI +0.00%) have been crushed today, and were down by 14% as of 11:05 a.m. EST, after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings. Investors may have been disappointed with the company's full-year profit guidance.
So what
Revenue in the fourth quarter came in at $57.9 million, ahead of the consensus estimate of $54.8 million. That resulted in adjusted earnings per share of $0.16, right on target with what Wall Street analysts were expecting. The email cybersecurity technology company said that annual recurring revenue (ARR) was $237.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $13.4 million.
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CEO David Wagner issued this statement: "Achieving these results in the face of a pandemic year is a testament to our team, our partners, our customers, and the resilience of our operating model. Our strategic prioritization in 2020 of investments in our indirect channels and in our Secure Cloud platform was already well timed, and the rapid shift to remote work caused by the pandemic provided further support for this emphasis."
Now what
Guidance for the first quarter calls for revenue in the range of $58.7 million to $59.8 million, which is ahead of the $58.1 million in sales that investors are looking for. That should result in adjusted earnings per share of $0.15 to $0.16, also topping the consensus estimate of $0.14. But Zix is forecasting adjusted EPS of $0.58 to $0.60 for 2021, below the $0.66 that the market is hoping for.
