NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) Announces Earnings Results

NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The technology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14, FiscalAI reports. NetScout Systems had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 13.71%.The business had revenue of $210.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. NetScout Systems updated its FY 2027 guidance to 2.650-2.800 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from NetScout Systems’ conference call:

• First-quarter revenue rose 13% to $210.4 million, while non-GAAP EPS increased to $0.52 from $0.34; gross margin expanded to 80.6% and operating margin improved to 20.8%.
• Service assurance revenue grew approximately 20%, supported partly by government orders and demand for Omnis Sensor and Omnis Streamer; management said the company has a solid pipeline for these AI-related offerings.
• Government-related orders totaling roughly $10 million to $15 million were pulled into the first quarter, and management expects second-quarter revenue to be broadly consistent with the prior year, resulting in only mid-single-digit first-half growth.
• Cybersecurity revenue increased just 0.6% year over year against a difficult prior-year comparison, although the DigiCert DDoS asset acquisition and capacity expansion doubled mitigation capability to 30 terabits per second and could improve recurring revenue margins over time.
• NetScout reaffirmed its fiscal 2027 outlook of $885 million to $915 million in revenue and $2.65 to $2.80 in non-GAAP EPS, while continuing to invest in AI-ready Smart Data, observability, cybersecurity, and adaptive DDoS protection.

NetScout Systems Trading Down 4.2%

NTCT traded down $1.69 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 763,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 518,361. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.44 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.39. NetScout Systems has a 12 month low of $21.21 and a 12 month high of $45.28.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on NTCT. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on NetScout Systems from $29.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NetScout Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of NetScout Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NetScout Systems in a report on Friday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetScout Systems news, Director Alfred Grasso sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.67, for a total transaction of $203,350.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 35,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,423,450. This represents a 12.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP John Downing sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.29, for a total value of $322,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 129,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,202,285.09. The trade was a 5.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Company insiders own 4.74% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetScout Systems

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of NetScout Systems by 53.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 432,109 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,693,000 after purchasing an additional 150,076 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in NetScout Systems by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 22,493 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $609,000 after purchasing an additional 4,887 shares during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury boosted its position in shares of NetScout Systems by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 39,894 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after buying an additional 10,119 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NetScout Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of NetScout Systems by 413.4% during the fourth quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 68,879 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after buying an additional 55,462 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About NetScout Systems

NetScout Systems, Inc is a leading provider of network performance management, service assurance and cybersecurity solutions. The company designs and delivers hardware and software platforms that capture and analyze real-time and historical packet data, enabling IT teams and service providers to monitor application performance, troubleshoot network issues and defend against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. NetScout’s flagship offerings include the nGeniusONE service assurance platform and the InfiniStream packet broker, which together provide end-to-end visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts, NetScout has built a reputation for scalable and resilient monitoring infrastructure.