Proofpoint: 4Q Earnings Snapshot

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (AP) _ Proofpoint Inc. (PFPT) on Thursday reported a loss of $28.7 million in its fourth quarter.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company said it had a loss of 51 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense and amortization costs, came to 52 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 47 cents per share.

The data security company posted revenue of $243.4 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Nine analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $239.5 million.

For the year, the company reported that its loss widened to $130.3 million, or $2.33 per share. Revenue was reported as $888.2 million.

For the current quarter ending in April, Proofpoint expects its per-share earnings to range from 25 cents to 29 cents.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $246 million to $248 million for the fiscal first quarter.

Proofpoint expects full-year earnings in the range of $1.42 to $1.48 per share, with revenue ranging from $1.06 billion to $1.07 billion.

Proofpoint shares have risen roughly 10% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $125.89, a climb of 26% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on PFPT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/PFPT