Why Check Point Software Popped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Check Point Software (NAS: CHKP) popped by upwards of 11% after the company announced earnings and boosted its share-repurchase program.

So what: Second-quarter revenue rose 9% to $328.6 million, with net income of $150 million, or $0.71 per share. CEO Gil Shwed said the company's security appliances continue to gain traction and enterprise appliance units were up 20%. The company repurchased 1.4 million shares during the quarter for a total of $75 million.

Now what: The company also announced that its board has authorized the expansion of its repurchase program, up to a total authorization of $1 billion over the next two years. Since Check Point launched its repurchase program in 2003, it has bought back 87.5 million shares for a total of $2.2 billion. The results are a welcome relief and suggest that recent pessimism over IT spending may be misplaced. Storage specialist EMC also reaffirmed its full-year guidance last night, so the IT sector doesn't seem so bad after all.

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The article Why Check Point Software Popped originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributorEvan Niuholds no position in any company mentioned. Check out hisholdings and a short bio. The Motley Fool owns shares of EMC and Check Point Software Technologies.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of Check Point Software Technologies. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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