Palo Alto Networks late Monday reported faster-than-expected earnings growth as the security firm racked up more customers wanting to shore up Internet defenses amid a spate of high-profile breaches. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company reported a 90% increase in earnings per share ex items to 19 cents for fiscal Q2, ended Jan. 31. It was the 15th straight quarter of double-digit EPS growth. Sales rose 54% to $217.7 million.
The technology sector in 2015 is picking up where 2014 left off, with the fastest pace of mergers and acquisition activity since the dot-com bubble’s peak in 2000. Year to date, tech M&As total $55.3 billion globally, according to a Thomson Reuters analysis of deals with disclosed financial terms. That’s up 9.5% from the same period a year ago. At a comparable point in 2000, the tally was $97.8 billion, excluding the $162 billion
Generic-drug maker and IBD 50 stock Akorn’s fourth-quarter earnings and 2015 guidance beat Wall Street’s estimates, sending the stock to a new high. Akorn’s earnings excluding one-time items jumped 257% from a year earlier to 50 cents a share in Q4, topping analysts’ consensus by 5 cents, according to Thomson Reuters. Sales climbed 168% to $227.8 million, about $10 million above the Street’s average prediction. For the year, earnings