Cloudflare Inc. shares jumped in the extended session Thursday, after the cybersecurity company issued an outlook slightly above Wall Street expectations in a stormy cloud-software climate. Cloudflare
NET,
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shares popped nearly 20% in after-hours trading, then cooled down to gains closer to 10% after the company’s results cleared the bar set a quarter ago, when shares declined after the results. That was part of a roller-coaster ride for the stock, which shot up 20% after August’s report.
Cloudflare executives on Thursday forecast adjusted earnings of 3 cents to 4 cents a share on revenue of $290 million for the first quarter, and 15 cents to 16 cents a share on revenue of $1.33 billion to $1.34 billion for the year. Analysts had estimated 3 cents a share on revenue of $250.6 million for the first quarter, and 15 cents a share on revenue of $1.31 billion for the year. “In the fourth quarter, we delivered record operating profit, operating margin, and free cash flow,” Cloudflare co-founder and Chief Executive Matthew Prince said in a statement. “We also surpassed more than 2,000 large customers paying us over $100,000 per year and signed a record number of deals greater than $500,000.” The company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $45.9 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with a loss of $77.5 million, or 24 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The adjusted loss, which excludes stock- …