Check Point's revenues grew by 4% in Q1 - it will recruit up too 600 pro's in R&d

Check Point's revenues grew by 4% in the first quarter of 2021, according to the company's reports published a short time ago. The forecasts expected its revenue to be $ 502 million.
Check Point is again showing a quarter with slightly higher numbers than the original forecast, but ones that show a moderate growth rate. This pace is particularly noticeable in light of the high demand for cyber solutions in the world, or as the Israeli cyber company itself notes: "The impact of the corona on the cyber field will continue in 2021 with more sophisticated attacks that take advantage of the new way of working in organizations."
Check Point yesterday presented data showing that the number of attack attempts (attacks blocked by the company's solutions) with ransom demands jumped among its customers at an average of 300 events per week per organization in 2020 to a level of 700 times per week today. Israel as a country and its organizations are among the most attacked countries in the world.
Schweid noted that Check Point is preparing to recruit about 600 employees this year around the world with an emphasis on research and development employees in Israel.
Its operating profit (GAAP) for the quarter was $ 215 million, an increase of 7% compared to its operating profit for the same quarter last year, which was $ 201 million. Its non-GAAP adjusted operating income was $ 246 million - a 6.4% increase over the previous quarter, when adjusted operating income was $ 231 million.
The company's free cash flow was $ 375 million, compared to $ 359 million in the same quarter in 2020. Earnings per share (Non-GAAP) were $ 1.54 per share - a 9% increase over the same period last year, and more than analysts had expected, $ 1.5 earnings per share.
The company noted that the corona crisis has led to an increase in more sophisticated cyber attacks, directed at organizations and individuals alike, and a significant proportion of attacks are carried out using mobile phones. The company warned that quite a few attacks were carried out through vaccine-related sites and wrote that there was a 300% increase in attacks through such sites, including sites that provide fake vaccination certificates.
The Corona crisis has increased the number of participants in the company's conferences, which took place virtually, and this year was attended by more than 14,000 participants, to: "We have more than 80 products, which allow us to address the threat through Infiniti 2020 architecture, "Quantum and the new family of harmonious hybrid security. It allows employees to be connected from anywhere in a secure way."
Upon the publication of the results, Gil Schweid, CEO of Check Point, noted that double-digit growth in the company's cloud operations allowed it to meet forecasts and even surpass them slightly. During the quarter, Check Point invested almost all cash flow from operations totaling $ 375 million. In a repurchase of its shares in the amount of $ 325 million.
According to Schweid, customers' cloud security solutions are growing at a rate of 50% per year and reaching more than $ 20 million in the quarter. In total, the company's cloud activity is already reaching an annual rate of $ 200 million if it also includes cloud-based security solutions.
"This is one of the largest cloud businesses in the world," says Schweid.