Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) Sets New 1-Year Low - What's Next?

Key Points

• Check Point hit a new 52-week low, trading as low as $124.99 and last at $122.06 (prior close $139.96), with the stock well below its 50-day ($147.86) and 200-day ($173.78) moving averages.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed with an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target of $199.32 after several firms trimmed price targets (Mizuho, Barclays, Piper Sandler among them); ratings breakdown: 8 Buy, 13 Hold, 2 Sell.
• Recent quarter showed a slight EPS beat ($2.50 vs. $2.40) but a small revenue miss ($668.4M vs. $672.6M), while profitability remains strong (ROE ~38.98%, net margin ~38.78%) and the stock trades at a P/E of 12.55.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $124.99 and last traded at $122.06, with a volume of 257695 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $139.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Check Point Software Technologies from $205.00 to $165.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a report on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Check Point Software Technologies from $260.00 to $240.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Check Point Software Technologies from $195.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 price objective on Check Point Software Technologies in a report on Friday, February 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $199.32.

Check Point Software Technologies Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.65. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $147.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.78.

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.10. Check Point Software Technologies had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 38.78%.The company had revenue of $668.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $672.62 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. Check Point Software Technologies's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Check Point Software Technologies

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 1.5% in the third quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,558 shares of the technology company's stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 3.6% in the third quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,513 shares of the technology company's stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC lifted its stake in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 1.1% in the third quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC now owns 4,780 shares of the technology company's stock worth $989,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 28.9% in the third quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 241 shares of the technology company's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 4.6% in the third quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,255 shares of the technology company's stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.51% of the company's stock.

About Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is an Israeli-founded cybersecurity company that develops, markets and supports a broad portfolio of network, cloud and endpoint security products. Founded in 1993, the company was an early pioneer of stateful inspection firewall technology and later developed a modular “software blade” approach that allowed customers to combine protection capabilities. Check Point's product set spans physical and virtual security appliances, software and cloud-native services designed to prevent cyberattacks, protect data and simplify security management for enterprises and service providers.

Key product families include Quantum Security Gateways (on-premises and hybrid appliances), CloudGuard (cloud security posture and workload protection), Harmony (endpoint, remote access and unified endpoint security), and SandBlast (advanced threat prevention and sandboxing).

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