“We anticipate revenues between $2.475 billion and $2.625 billion, translating to growth in the range of 6% to 9%.”

In context

“Gil Shwed (CEO): Thank you very much, Roei, and thank you everyone for joining me. I’d like to share some insights into our achievements and outline our strategy moving forward, highlighting what sets Check Point apart. In summary, we had strong results in the fourth quarter, surpassing our EPS expectations, achieving 15% growth in subscriptions, and experiencing double-digit revenue growth in the Americas. Overall, I am very proud of our execution this past year. It’s important to note we started the year from a challenging economic situation in which customers delayed projects and investments, leading to a decline in new business for four consecutive quarters from Q4 2022 to Q3 2023. However, last quarter, we noted signs of a slight recovery. It's difficult to ascertain the extent of this turnaround attributed to the economy versus our team’s impressive execution, which enhanced customer engagement and increased our pipeline across all regions. In the fourth quarter, we recorded double-digit growth in our new business metrics, which I believe is a strong indicator of the shifts taking place. I sincerely hope this positive momentum will continue into 2024, providing us with economic support rather than challenges. Now, let’s discuss some of our achievements. We’ve emphasized the significance of the Infinity platform, which now has hundreds of customers—typically those with substantial business with us—utilizing it across various layers of security. We're proud to count renowned brands like FedEx, Benetton, Bayer, and Pirelli among these customers, showcasing our platform’s reach across diverse industries and global markets. This consistent success continued throughout the year and into Q4. Also, regarding our industry recognition, our leadership mentions from analysts have significantly increased every year from 2019 to 2023, indicating improvements in our products, marketing, and security services that are well recognized by customers and analysts alike. Looking ahead to 2024, we will continue to focus on being a platform company. The Infinity platform is becoming increasingly crucial, and I want to highlight two main attributes. Firstly, it's cloud-delivered, which means many services come from the Check Point Cloud. Secondly, it is AI-powered. We predicted at the beginning of 2023 that it would be the year of AI, and we've successfully integrated AI into all facets of our products, positioning us as leaders in cybersecurity and AI. We also discussed our 3 Cs framework: comprehensive, consolidated, and collaborative cybersecurity. I'd like to focus on the collaborative aspect, as it is specifically vital. ThreatCloud now comprises over 90 security engines capable of identifying and blocking a wide range of attacks, with more than half of these engines powered by AI—up from 40 last year. This growth indicates our consistent advancement, as we introduce an average of one new engine to the Infinity platform each month, adding significant strength to our offerings. Each engine can be utilized across various delivery methods, such as network security gateways, email security, and cloud security. This versatility means we can make advanced security investments that customers can deploy across multiple areas. Consequently, we prevented three billion attacks last year, a staggering figure. As for generative AI, it is making strong inroads into the front-end processes of our offerings. At our recent CPX conference, we showcased an exciting development: our generative AI tool can analyze access issues swiftly, which would usually require manual analysis ranging from minutes to hours. With a simple command, this tool can assess situations and suggest resolutions, completing tasks in a matter of minutes. It’s an innovative and powerful feature that’s already available to customers, and we witnessed substantial interest at the conference. Most of our security gateways, which form the backbone of our network security, already utilize ThreatCloud services. 100% of our email, endpoint, mobile, and cloud workloads are integrated with the Infinity ThreatCloud, indicating vast potential for growth as customers increasingly adopt our cloud solutions. The collaborative nature of our platform sets it apart, allowing various components to work interchangeably to mitigate threats efficiently. This capability enhances security response and streamlines system integration, making it straightforward for customers to manage their security without needing extensive training or hefty investments. We’re proud of the results from the recent MyCom report, which indicated our effectiveness against zero-day attacks, achieving a 99.8% success rate—an improvement over last year. Our ability to block a wide array of attacks stands in stark contrast to competitors, and it's crucial that we provide comprehensive protection against both known and unknown threats. As we move into 2024, I want to highlight our three families of products: Quantum for network security, CloudGuard for cloud security, and Harmony for workspace security. All these services leverage the core resources provided by Infinity, ensuring comprehensive security solutions. Before concluding, I want to mention our recent CPX Experience conference. We held our first major in-person event in four years, attracting thousands of attendees, with the Bangkok gathering seeing participation from 1,500 enthusiastic individuals. The high satisfaction ratings reflect our commitment to delivering valuable content and engaging discussions. In summary, even amidst challenging market conditions, our team continued to produce strong results, culminating in double-digit growth in new business, a key indicator of our health, profit margins, and innovative advances that will be rolled out in 2024. I am excited for Check Point's future and our team's dedication. Now, let’s review our 2024 projections. We anticipate revenues between $2.475 billion and $2.625 billion, translating to growth in the range of 6% to 9%. Our non-GAAP EPS is projected between $8.70 and $9.30, representing growth rates of 7% to 10%. For the first quarter, revenues are expected between $575 million and $610 million, with a midpoint growth of 5% and a high-end growth of 8%. Non-GAAP EPS for Q1 is projected between $1.95 and $2.05, equating to growth of 11% to 14%. These are robust figures to kick off the year, and I remain optimistic that our efforts in customer engagement and product innovation will yield positive results. Thank you all, and let's now open the floor to your questions.”