SAN CARLOS, Calif., Feb. 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020. Fourth Quarter 2020 Total Revenues: $564 million, a 4 percent increase year over yearDeferred Revenues: $1,482 million, a 7 percent increase year over yearGAAP Operating Income: $251 million, representing 45 percent of revenuesNon-GAAP Operating Income: $285 million, representing 51 percent of revenuesGAAP EPS: $1.95, a 6 percent increase year over yearNon-GAAP EPS: $2.17, a 7 percent increase year over year Full Year 2020 Total Revenues: $2,065 million, a 4 percent increase year over yearGAAP EPS: $5.96, a 10 percent increase year over yearNon-GAAP EPS: $6.78, an 11 percent increase year over year “We are pleased with our fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results. Business in our fourth quarter grew across all focus areas including cloud, network and remote access security with subscriptions revenue growth of 10 percent and non-GAAP EPS growth of 11 percent year over year. This reflects the continued execution of our strategy and the importance of cyber security during these unprecedented times,” said Gil Shwed, Founder and CEO of Check Point Software Technologies. “The global pandemic drove the new normal, a hybrid work environment and accelerated digital transformation that created security challenges across all types of organizations. The Infinity security platform enables the prevention of Gen V cyber-attacks across all major attack vectors. Delivering cyber security is now more critical than ever and I would like to thank our customers, partners and employees for making that happen.” Financial Highlights for the Fourth Quarter of 2020 Total Revenues: $564 million compared to $544 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, a 4 percent increase year over year.GAAP Operating Income: $251 million compared to $249 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, representing 45 percent and 46 percent of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 2019, respectively.Non-GAAP Operating Income: $285 million compared to $280 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, representing 51 percent of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 2019.GAAP Taxes on Income (tax benefit): $5.2 million compared to $3.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.GAAP Net Income & Earnings per Diluted share: GAAP net income was $271 million compared to $272 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.95 compared to $1.84 in the fourth quarter of 2019, a 6 percent increase year over year.Non-GAAP Net Income & Earnings per Diluted share: Non-GAAP net income was $301 million compared to $299 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $2.17 compared to $2.02 in the fourth quarter of 2019, a 7 percent increase year over year.Deferred Revenues: As of December 31, 2020, deferred revenues were $1,482 million compared to $1,387 million as of December 31, 2019, a 7 percent increase year over year.Cash Balances, Marketable Securities & Short Term Deposits: $4,000 million as of December 31, 2020, compared to $3,949 million as of December 31, 2019.Cash Flow: Cash flow from operations of $293 million compared to $246 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. The fourth quarter of 2020 includes $26 million of income related to our currency hedging transactions compared to $2 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. In addition, in the fourth quarter of 2019 our cash flow from operations included $12 million of acquisition-related costs.Share Repurchase Program: During the fourth quarter of 2020, the company repurchased approximately 2.7 million shares at a total cost of approximately $323 million. Financial Highlights for the Year Ended December 31, 2020 Total Revenues: $2,065 million compared to $1,995 million in 2019, a 4 percent increase year over year.GAAP Operating Income: $904 million compared to $882 million in 2019, representing 44 percent of revenues in 2020 and 2019.Non-GAAP Operating Income: $1,035 million compared to $1,003 million in 2019, representing 50 percent of revenues in 2020 and 2019.GAAP Taxes on Income: $124 million compared to $137 million in 2019.GAAP Net Income & Earnings per Diluted Share: GAAP net income was $847 million compared to $826 million in 2019. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $5.96 compared to $5.43 in 2019, a 10 percent increase year over year.Non-GAAP Net Income & Earnings per Diluted Share: Non-GAAP net income was $963 million compared to $933 million in 2019. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $6.78 compared to $6.13 in 2019, an 11 percent increase year over year.Cash Flow: Cash flow from operations of $1,152 million compared to $1,102 million in 2019.Share Repurchase Program: During 2020, the company repurchased approximately 11.4 million shares at a total cost of approximately $1,298 million. For information regarding the non-GAAP financial measures discussed in this release, as well as a reconciliation of such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, please see “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information” and “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Information.” Business Highlights: Products Launches In April, we announced the transformation of our appliance security gateways into the new Quantum Security GatewaysTM delivering premier security. The new line of 15 security gateway models extends the Infinity architecture from the branch office to the data center. All Quantum models out-of-the box deliver our highest level of threat prevention using the Sandblast Zero-day Protection, providing more than 60 security and threat prevention services. Since its launch and through 2020, we witnessed a high transition rate of over 90% to the new Quantum model. The outbreak of COVID-19 required organizations to accelerate their transition to the cloud which left them vulnerable to cloud-targeted attacks. Check Point expanded its CloudGuard security platform to deliver unified cloud native security for cloud assets and workloads, with the ability to automate security, prevent threats, and manage posture across multi-cloud environment. Another immediate impact of the pandemic was a surge in cyber-attacks targeting IoT networks at manufacturing plants, utilities and other mission critical environments. We announced the new IoT Protect solution designed to secure IoT devices and networks against the most advanced cyber-attacks. The solution delivers threat prevention and security management capabilities to block cyber-attacks at both IoT network and IoT device level, using threat intelligence and innovative IoT-specific security services. With the increase in cyber-attacks volume and sophistication, Security Operations Centre (SOC) teams struggle to identify and mitigate malicious activity on their complex network estates. We launched Infinity SOC to help security teams cut through the daily overload of alerts, and reduce network blind spots to expose, and shut down cyber-attacks with best-in-class speed and precision. Infinity SOC is used daily by the Check Point research cyber analysts, to expose and investigate the world’s most dangerous and sophisticated cyber-attacks. We continuously strive to allow security professionals to manage Cyber Security in the most secure, simple and efficient way. Earlier in 2020 we launched Unified Security Management as a Cloud Service to cut security operations time significantly. This provided Check Point customers with the quickest route to deploying Check Point’s unified security management across their entire network fabric from their web browser, with no need for ongoing maintenance or manual updates. In October we launched the latest version of our cyber security platform R81 - The industry’s first to deliver autonomous threat prevention designed for the entire distributed enterprise, enabling IT staff to manage the most complex and dynamic network environments easily and efficiently. Based on the new R81 Cyber Security Platform and SandBlast Network, Check Point introduced Infinity Threat Prevention. This new capability was designed to significantly reduce admin overhead and strengthen and organizations security posture by automatically maintaining network protection with zero maintenance. With R81 security professionals can rapidly respond to changing security needs with fastest policy installation: Reducing policy installation time by up to 90%. The platform also introduces significant improvements in performance and hardware utilization as well as optimal security for encrypted network traffic (SSL). Partnerships & Customers Check Point named NTT Ltd. as the first global Infinity partner. NTT was the first managed security services provider to obtain a five star status in all countries where NTT and Check Point operate. The companies’ combined capabilities enable clients to protect their infrastructure, applications, and intellectual property on a ‘Secure by Design’ basis. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the need for security that seamlessly expands on demand to hyperscale capacity. In December, Check Point announced that it had been chosen by NHS National Services Scotland, the publicly funded healthcare service in Scotland, to secure and streamline the management of its public cloud data, and provide complete threat prevention for vital public services such as Scotland’s ‘Test & Protect’ and vaccine management services. Research & Cyber Security The impact of COVID-19 on cyber security continued in the fourth quarter of 2020 and was evident in new and sophisticated cyber threats, taking advantage of organizations’ and employees’ shift to a “new normal”. In December, Check Point conducted a global survey of over 600 IT security professionals, where 58% of respondents said their organization has experienced an increase in cyber-attacks since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. The survey found that securing remote workers will be a leading priority and challenge for the next 2 years, as roughly half of organizations believe the workplace will not return to pre-pandemic norms. As hackers continue to find new ways to exploit the pandemic’s disruption, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic will continue to be a key focus for organizations’ IT and security teams. Check Point’s 2021 Cyber-security Predictions outlined that more COVID-19 related attacks, developments in malware and cyber-conflicts, and new threats to 5G and the Internet of Things will top organizations’ security agendas during the next 12 months. Earlier in the quarter, our researchers warned that organizations worldwide were in the midst of a massive wave of ransomware attacks. In Q3 2020, Check Point Research saw a 50% increase in the daily average of ransomware attacks, compared to the first half of the year. They also examined attacks targeting healthcare organizations. Following the CISA, FBI, and HHS warning about ransomware attacks on U.S. hospitals, Check Point found that healthcare was the most targeted industry by ransomware, in the US during October. Check Point documented a 45% increase in cyber-attacks targeting healthcare organizations worldwide, placing the healthcare sector at the top of the hit list for cyber criminals. In December, news of Covid-19 vaccine availability drove global interest and expectation. Check Point Research found a stream of posts on the Darknet from sources claiming to have a range of