Zscaler Rides Q3 Results to Higher Stock Price

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) shares jumped Friday after reporting stronger-than-expected results in the third fiscal quarter driven by artificial intelligence and widespread adoption of its zero-trust security platform.“The proliferation of AI in all aspects of business is increasing the need for our AI security,” said CEO Jay Chaudhry in a release. “We empower customers to securely adopt both public GenAI apps and their own private AI apps, and we are increasing our investments in this area.”The cloud security software company said revenues grew 23% to $678 million from about $553 million in the year-ago period. That topped the LSEG estimate of $666 million.Zscaler reported adjusted earnings of 84 cents per share, topping the adjusted EPS of 75 cents per share expected by LSEG. Billings rose 25% to about $785 million, ahead of a $760 million estimate from StreetAccount.Zscaler’s earnings come as a hopeful sign for a cybersecurity industry that has shown some pockets of weakness in a volatile macroeconomic environment. ZS shares galloped $18.51, or 7.4%, to $269.57.