Teva, Check Point Turn in Disappointing 4Q Guidance; Sodadastream Outperforms Forecasts

YERUSHALAYIM
Check Point Software Technologies headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Israel’s two biggest companies — Check Point and Teva — were crashing markets on Thursday with lower-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter, Globes reported.

Cybersecurity company Check Point Software Technologies shocked analysts with guidance for the fourth quarter of $485-525 million, versus analysts’ predictions of $530 million. The Israeli company sees fourth quarter non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.45-1.55, in line with the analysts’ prediction of $1.49.

As a result, Check Point’s share fell 12.5 percent to $103.01, giving a market cap of $16.84 billion. Over the past year, Check Point’s share had risen by 42 percent, giving it a market cap of nearly $20 billion, and superseding Teva as Israel’s most valuable company.

Teva’s share price slumped 11.5 percent in premarket trading on Wall Street, a response to missing the analysts’ estimates and issuing a lowered guidance.

Teva adjusted its 2017 revenue forecast to $22.2-22.3 billion from $22.8-23.2 billion and expects $5.3-5.4 billion revenue in the fourth quarter. Non-GAAP EPS for 2017 has been lowered to $3.77-3.87 per share from $4.30-4.50. Expected Non-GAAP EPS in the fourth quarter is $0.70-0.80 per share.

The company attributed the lower expectations to, among other things, an earlier than expected, at-risk launch of a generic competitor to Copaxone 40 mg/mL, with an expected impact on EPS of approximately $0.30; and lower than expected contribution from new generic launches in the U.S.

On the other hand, Sodastream continued its yearlong surge. Over the past year, the company saw an increase in share price of 150 percent, and quarterly results show more growth.

The company outperformed the analysts’ forecasts in the revenue and profit lines. Its revenue totaled $140 million in the third quarter, 12.5 percent more than in the third quarter of 2016 and 7 percent more than in the second quarter of this year. Sodastream’s revenue grew 12 percent to $386 million in the first three quarters of 2017.

Sodastream anticipates 13 percent sales growth and 40 percent growth in net profit per share in 2017 as a whole. The company finished 2016 with $476 million in revenue and a net profit of $2.07 per share, meaning that its guidance reflects $538 million in annual revenue and profit per share of $2.90 for 2017, both ahead of the market forecasts.

Sodastream said that the growth curve pertains to all the parts of the world in which it does business, but especially Germany, Japan, Canada, Austria and Australia.

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