Check Point Software Technologies (Nasdaq: CHKP) reported revenue of $669.8 million for the third quarter of 2026, which ended September 30, down 1% from $677.5 million a year earlier. Revenue from products and licenses fell 19% to $105.5 million, while security subscriptions rose 11% to $338.6 million.
It was the first year-over-year revenue decline in the nine quarters of Check Point's results that SaasBuzz reviewed, and it came in a season when its largest security rivals grew 20% or more. The shares were down 10.59% in premarket trading on November 2, Globes reported at 6:02 a.m. ET. Revenue was slightly below the $672 million analysts expected, the Israeli business daily said.
What fell
Two of Check Point's three revenue lines shrank. Products and licenses lost $24.9 million from a year earlier, and software updates, maintenance and services lost $16.0 million, a 6.6% decline by SaasBuzz's calculation. Security subscriptions added $33.2 million, not enough to cover both. Subscriptions are now 50.6% of revenue, up from 45.1%; products are 15.8%, down from 19.2%.
Q3 | 2026 ($M) | 2025 ($M) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
Products | 105.5 | 130.4 | -19.1% |
Subscriptions | 338.6 | 305.4 | +10.9% |
Maintenance | 225.7 | 241.7 | -6.6% |
Revenue | 669.8 | 677.5 | -1.1% |
Source: Check Point's third-quarter release. "Maintenance" is software updates, maintenance and services. Changes are SaasBuzz calculations.
Profit fell with the mix. Non-GAAP operating income dropped 11% to $250.7 million, a 37% margin against 42% a year earlier, and GAAP operating income fell to $177.2 million from $199.1 million. Both figures reflect a $25 million reduction in research and development expense from grants under a new Israeli tax incentive law, the company said. Non-GAAP earnings per share were $2.49, against $3.94 a year earlier, when a tax settlement added about $1.47 a share; without it, Check Point said, they rose 1%.
Chief executive Nadav Zafrir said in the release that revenue had reached its low point.
We believe revenues reached a trough in the third quarter, and we expect gradual improvement beginning in the fourth quarter. The recovery is taking longer than anticipated, but we remain confident in our vision.Nadav Zafrir, CEO of Check Point Software, in the third-quarter release
Six quarters of slowing product sales
The product decline has been building all year. Products and licenses grew at double-digit rates in the first half of 2025, slowed to 0.7% in the fourth quarter, then shrank in each of the three quarters of 2026. Subscription growth held between 9.6% and 11.6% throughout, so total growth followed products down, from 6.7% a year ago to minus 1.1%.
Quarter | Products | Subs | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
Q3 2024 | 4.1% | 11.5% | 6.5% |
Q4 2024 | 7.8% | 9.9% | 6.1% |
Q1 2025 | 13.8% | 10.3% | 6.5% |
Q2 2025 | 11.7% | 9.6% | 6.0% |
Q3 2025 | 9.7% | 10.3% | 6.7% |
Q4 2025 | 0.7% | 11.3% | 5.9% |
Q1 2026 | -2.9% | 11.2% | 4.8% |
Q2 2026 | -14.0% | 11.6% | 1.3% |
Q3 2026 | -19.1% | 10.9% | -1.1% |
Source: SaasBuzz calculations from Check Point's quarterly results releases, filed with the SEC on Form 6-K. Growth is from a year earlier.
Check Point has given its reason before. In April, Zafrir said in the first-quarter release that product revenue "was impacted by go-to-market changes implemented at the beginning of the quarter, which created near-term headwinds in our security appliance business." The same day, the company cut its 2026 revenue forecast to $2,770 million to $2,850 million, from $2,830 million to $2,950 million, citing "Lower Revenues from Firewall Appliances." Its subscription forecast was left unchanged.
Against its own forecast and its peers
By its own yardstick, the quarter was on plan. In July, Check Point forecast third-quarter revenue of $655 million to $685 million, subscription revenue of $332 million to $343 million and non-GAAP earnings per share of $2.43 to $2.53. Revenue landed $0.2 million below the midpoint, subscriptions $1.1 million above and earnings per share one cent above.
Its peers are growing. Fortinet's product revenue grew 37% to $765 million in the same quarter, and its total revenue is now 3.1 times Check Point's. SaasBuzz covered Fortinet's results on October 29. Two of the figures below include acquisitions: Palo Alto Networks' release lists integration costs for CyberArk, and Zscaler's gives some measures excluding Red Canary.
Company | Quarter end | Revenue | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
Palo Alto | Jul. 31 | $3.41B | 34% |
CrowdStrike | Jul. 31 | $1.47B | 26% |
Zscaler | Jul. 31 | $898M | 25% |
Fortinet | Sep. 30 | $2.08B | 20% |
Check Point | Sep. 30 | $670M | -1% |
Source: each company's latest results release: Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike and Zscaler, filed with the SEC. Growth from a year earlier, as each company reports it.
What the fourth quarter has to deliver
The results release carried no new forecast. Check Point has published its outlook in the presentation for its results call, which it scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET on November 2. The last forecast on record is the one it kept in July: 2026 revenue of $2,770 million to $2,850 million.
After nine months at $2,011.8 million, up 1.6%, that range needs fourth-quarter revenue of $758.2 million to $838.2 million, by SaasBuzz's arithmetic. Against $744.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, that is growth of 1.8% at the low end and 7.2% at the midpoint, from a company whose growth has fallen for four quarters in a row. The bottom of the range asks for the "gradual improvement" Zafrir described; the midpoint asks for faster growth than in any of the nine quarters in the table above.
The other test is how the company sells firewalls from here. On October 26, Check Point launched Firewall-as-a-Subscription, under which customers "pay one predictable monthly or annual subscription instead of buying hardware upfront" over a three-year term, available through partners from November 1. The company has not said how that revenue will be reported. Remaining performance obligations, the contracted revenue not yet recognized, rose 5% to $2.5 billion, slower than the 7% it reported in each of the first two quarters of 2026.
Check Point bought back about 2.5 million shares for about $325 million in the quarter and held $4,123 million in cash, marketable securities and deposits on September 30. Management is due at the BMO Tech Conference on November 12, the first of seven investor events it listed through December 14.
