Netscout Systems Inc (NTCT) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to NetScout's fourth-quarter and full-fiscal-year-2024 financial results conference call. At this time, all parties are in a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer portion of the call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded.

女士們、先生們，感謝你們的支持，並歡迎參加 NetScout 第四季和 2024 年全年財務業績電話會議。此時，各方都處於只聽模式，直到通話的問答部分。提醒一下，此通話正在錄音。

Tony Piazza, Senior Vice President of Finance and his colleagues at NetScout are on the line with us. (Operator Instructions)

NetScout 財務資深副總裁 Tony Piazza 和他的同事正在與我們通話。（操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to Tony Piazza to begin the company's prepared remarks.

我現在想將電話轉給托尼·皮亞扎（Tony Piazza），讓他開始公司準備好的演講。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to NetScout's fourth-quarter and full-fiscal-year-2024 conference call for the period ended March 31, 2024. Joining me today are Anil Singhal, NetScout’s President and Chief Executive Officer; Michael Szabados, NetScout’s Chief Operating Officer; and Jean Bua, NetScout’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝接線員，大家早安。歡迎參加 NetScout 截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的第四季和 2024 年全年財政年度電話會議。今天加入我的還有 NetScout 總裁兼執行長 Anil Singhal； Michael Szabados，NetScout 營運長； NetScout 執行副總裁兼財務長 Jean Bua。

There is a slide presentation that accompanies our prepared remarks. You can advance the slides in the webcast viewer to follow our commentary. Both the slides and the prepared remarks can be accessed in multiple areas within the Investor Relations section of our website at www.netscout.com, including the IR landing page under financial results, the webcast itself, and under financial information on the quarterly results page.

我們準備好的評論附有一個幻燈片簡報。您可以在網路廣播檢視器中前進幻燈片以關注我們的評論。幻燈片和準備好的評論都可以在我們網站www.netscout.com 的投資者關係部分的多個區域訪問，包括財務業績下的投資者關係登錄頁面、網絡廣播本身以及季度業績頁面上的財務信息下。

Moving to slide number 3, today’s conference call will include forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include statements regarding our future financial performance or position, results of operations, business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations, and other statements that are not historical fact.

轉向第三張投影片，今天的電話會議將包括前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述的例子包括有關我們未來財務表現或狀況、經營績效、業務策略、未來經營管理計畫和目標的陳述，以及其他非歷史事實的陳述。

Actual results could differ materially from any forward-looking statement. These statements speak only as of today's date and involve risks and uncertainties including but not limited to those described on the slide and in today's financial-results press release, which are available on the Investor Relations section of our website as well as in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings, on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Netscout assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required by law.

實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述有重大差異。這些聲明僅代表截至今天的情況，涉及風險和不確定性，包括但不限於幻燈片和今天的財務業績新聞稿中描述的風險和不確定性，這些風險和不確定性可在我們網站的投資者關係部分以及公司最重要的網站上找到。除法律要求外，Netscout 不承擔更新任何前瞻性資訊的義務。

Let’s now turn to slide number 4, which involves non-GAAP metrics. While this slide presentation includes both GAAP and non-GAAP metrics, unless otherwise stated, financial information discussed on today’s conference call will be on a non-GAAP basis only. The rationale for providing non-GAAP measures along with the limitations of relying solely on those measures is detailed on this slide and in today’s press release. These measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of all non-GAAP metrics with the applicable GAAP measures are provided in the appendix of the slide presentation in today's earnings press release and on our website.

現在讓我們轉向第 4 張投影片，其中涉及非 GAAP 指標。雖然本投影片簡報包括 GAAP 和非 GAAP 指標，但除非另有說明，否則今天電話會議上討論的財務資訊將僅基於非 GAAP 基礎。這張投影片和今天的新聞稿詳細介紹了提供非公認會計原則衡量標準的理由以及僅依賴這些衡量標準的限制。這些措施不應孤立地考慮或取代根據公認會計原則準備的財務資訊。今天的收益新聞稿幻燈片簡報的附錄和我們的網站上提供了所有非 GAAP 指標與適用的 GAAP 指標的對帳。

I will now turn the call over to Anil for his prepared remarks. Anil?

我現在將把電話轉給阿尼爾，聽他準備好的演講。阿尼爾？

Thank you, Tony, and good morning, everyone. Welcome and thank you for all for joining us today. In fiscal-year 2024, strong cybersecurity revenue growth was a highlight for NetScout as customers continue to prioritize cybersecurity spending amidst heightened geopolitical tensions and expanding cyber threat landscape. This strength was more than offset by the constrained customer spending environment, affecting our service assurance offerings, primarily related to our domestic service provider or customers. Despite the top-line headwinds, our diligent cost containment actions and flexible cost structure contributed to non-GAAP earnings per share growth year over year.

謝謝你，托尼，大家早安。歡迎並感謝大家今天加入我們。2024 財年，強勁的網路安全收入成長是 NetScout 的一大亮點，因為在地緣政治緊張局勢加劇和網路威脅情勢不斷擴大的情況下，客戶繼續優先考慮網路安全支出。這種優勢被有限的客戶支出環境所抵消，影響了我們的服務保證產品，主要與我們的國內服務提供者或客戶相關。儘管面臨營收逆風，但我們勤奮的成本控制行動和靈活的成本結構推動了非公認會計原則每股收益同比增長。

With that as a backdrop, let's now turn to slide number 6 for a brief high-level recap of our non-GAAP financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal-year 2024. Jean will provide more detail on the results later in the call. For the fourth quarter, we delivered revenue of approximately $203 million, down 2% and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.55, up $0.17 or approximately 45% both on a year-over-year basis.

以此為背景，現在讓我們轉向第 6 張投影片，簡要回顧一下我們第四季和 2024 年整個財年的非 GAAP 財務業績。吉恩將在稍後的電話會議中提供有關結果的更多詳細資訊。第四季度，我們實現營收約 2.03 億美元，下降 2%，非 GAAP 稀釋每股收益為 0.55 美元，較去年同期成長 0.17 美元，約成長 45%。

For the full fiscal-year 2024, we delivered revenue of approximately $830 million, representing a decline of approximately 9% year over year due in part to a lower level of service assurance, radio frequency propagation modeling project revenue compared to an unusually high level in fiscal year 2023. When excluding the radio frequency propagation modeling project revenue from total revenue, the decline was approximately 3% year over year.

2024 財年，我們實現了約 8.3 億美元的收入，年減約 9%，部分原因是服務保證、射頻傳播建模專案收入水準低於異常高水準。當從總收入中剔除射頻傳播建模專案收入時，年減約3%。

From a non-GAAP EPS perspective, for the full fiscal-year 2024, we delivered $2.20 per diluted share a $0.02 or approximately 1% improvement over fiscal year 2023. We achieved this result despite the revenue headwinds, partially due to our cost containment actions taken during the fiscal year.

從非 GAAP 每股盈餘的角度來看，在 2024 年整個財年，我們攤薄後每股收益為 2.20 美元，比 2023 財年提高了 0.02 美元，約 1%。儘管收入不利，我們還是取得了這項成果，部分原因是我們在本財政年度採取的成本控制措施。

Now, let's move to slide number 7 for some further perspective on business and market insights, starting with our Service Assurance offerings. In fiscal-year 2024, Service Assurance revenue declined approximately 18% year over year, this was primarily attributable to lower radio frequency propagation modeling project revenue year over year as well as constrained spending from the domestic Tier 1 carrier market, as previously discussed.

現在，讓我們轉到第 7 張投影片，從我們的服務保證產品開始，進一步了解業務和市場洞察。2024 財年，服務保障收入年減約 18%，這主要是由於射頻傳播建模專案收入年減以及國內一級業者市場支出受限（如前所述）。

Excluding the impact of radio frequency propagation modeling project revenue, service revenue -- service assurance revenue were down approximately 11% year over year. As we consider the demand dynamics for the service assurance offering moving forward, we continue to see customers being cautious as budgets remain tight and the number of required approvals remains elevated. While we expect relative stability in the enterprise vertical as customers continue to prioritize mission critical solutions and monitoring at the edge, we believe the ongoing headwinds in the service provider vertical will persist for much of the fiscal year 2025.

剔除射頻傳播建模專案收入的影響，服務收入－服務保障收入較去年同期下降約11%。當我們考慮未來服務保障產品的需求動態時，我們仍然看到客戶持謹慎態度，因為預算仍然緊張，所需的批准數量仍然很高。雖然我們預計，隨著客戶繼續優先考慮關鍵任務解決方案和邊緣監控，企業垂直領域將保持相對穩定，但我們相信，服務提供者垂直領域持續面臨的阻力將在2025 財年的大部分時間裡持續存在。

The demand dynamic for service provider there is an issue that is primarily domestic. Domestic service provider remain cautious in their spending decisions, as 5G standalone infrastructure deployed has not yet delivered a return on investment with network traffic below capacity and no material new application driving increasing demand. This has caused providers to delay significant further investment until a monetization strategy becomes clearer to obtain acceptable returns on the investments.

服務提供者的需求動態存在一個主要是國內的問題。國內服務提供者在支出決策上仍保持謹慎態度，因為部署的 5G 獨立基礎設施尚未帶來投資回報，網路流量低於容量，且沒有實質的新應用推動需求成長。這導致提供者推遲進一步的重大投資，直到貨幣化策略變得更加清晰以獲得可接受的投資回報。

Strategically, we continue to be ready to support both the domestic and international carriers, as the customer demand market progress and as emerging network technology trends gain momentum. For example, fixed wireless access has been a promising long-term opportunity although service providers currently already have the bandwidth to support recent deployments.

從策略上講，隨著客戶需求市場的進步和新興網路技術趨勢的發展，我們將繼續做好支援國內和國際營運商的準備。例如，儘管服務供應商目前已經擁有支援近期部署的頻寬，但固定無線存取一直是個有前景的長期機會。

Additionally, networks likely also, offers long-term opportunity for NetScout, but is still in early stages. We are also encouraged by 5G investment activity at the International carriers. While international carrier spending levels tend to be lower than the domestic market, they remain an important contributor to long-term growth.

此外，網路也可能為 NetScout 提供長期機會，但仍處於早期階段。我們也對國際業者的 5G 投資活動感到鼓舞。儘管國際業者的支出水準往往低於國內市場，但它們仍然是長期成長的重要貢獻者。

Finally, NetScout is actively taking early steps to bring a new value proposition opportunity as it collaborates with customer to fully unlock the critical value of our smart data generated from our DPI technology. This relates to an increasing needs and requirement of emerging AIOps strategies, toolsets and applications. In the future, we intend to be an important contributor to this emerging technology market, as we make our smart data available for customer AI use cases in partnership with other technology innovators industry.

最後，NetScout 正在積極採取早期措施，與客戶合作，充分釋放 DPI 技術產生的智慧數據的關鍵價值，並帶來新的價值主張機會。這與新興 AIOps 策略、工具集和應用程式日益增長的需求和要求有關。未來，我們打算成為這個新興技術市場的重要貢獻者，因為我們與其他技術創新產業合作，為客戶人工智慧用例提供智慧數據。

Shifting to our cyber security offering. In fiscal-year 2024, our cybersecurity offering delivered approximately 15% revenue growth year over year which was the result of growth in both our Service Provider and Enterprise Customer Verticals. In addition, we believe customers prioritize spending amid heightened geopolitical tensions and expanding threat landscape. As revealed in our recently released DDoS Threat Intelligence Report, political motivated activist groups and an increase in DNS Water Torture attack contributed to over seven million DDoS attack globally in the second half of 2023.

轉向我們的網路安全產品。在 2024 財年，我們的網路安全產品實現了約 15% 的營收年增，這是我們的服務供應商和企業客戶垂直領域成長的結果。此外，我們認為，在地緣政治緊張局勢加劇和威脅情勢擴大的情況下，客戶會優先考慮支出。正如我們最近發布的 DDoS 威脅情報報告所示，出於政治動機的活動團體和 DNS Water Torture 攻擊的增加在 2023 年下半年導致了全球超過 700 萬次 DDoS 攻擊。

This is an increase of 15% from the first half of the year. With this high activity threat landscape, companies are increasingly depending on NetScout for their cybersecurity protection needs. As we look to fiscal-year 2024, we believe the value proposition of our solution should continue to resonate with customers and expect our core as well as new offerings such as Adaptive DDoS, Mobile Security and Omnis Cyber Intelligence Solution to fuel continued momentum in this space. Michael and Jim will provide more insight regarding customer wins as well as product offering and customer vertical performance during the remarks.

比上半年成長了15%。在這種高度活躍的威脅情勢下，公司越來越依賴 NetScout 來滿足其網路安全保護需求。展望2024 財年，我們相信我們解決方案的價值主張應該繼續引起客戶的共鳴，並期望我們的核心產品以及自適應DDoS、行動安全和Omnis 網路智慧解決方案等新產品能夠推動這一領域的持續發展勢頭。邁克爾和吉姆將在演講中提供有關客戶贏得以及產品供應和客戶垂直績效的更多見解。

Now, let's move to slide number 8 regarding our outlook and summary. As we look forward to fiscal-year 2025, we are encouraged by the momentum in our cybersecurity offerings. We have begun to take further actions that will enhance our focus on cybersecurity. This include increased R&D spend -- R&D investment as well as go-to-market strategy modification.

現在，讓我們轉到第 8 張投影片，了解我們的展望和總結。展望 2025 財年，我們對網路安全產品的發展動能感到鼓舞。我們已開始採取進一步行動，加強我們對網路安全的關注。這包括增加研發支出——研發投資以及進入市場策略的修改。

Also, we recognize the lingering headwinds in the domestic service provider vertical of what service assurance offering. This will likely create a top-line offset resulting in a flat to slightly down revenue scenario for the new fiscal year despite the continued growth in our cybersecurity offerings. We continue to align our cost structure with the current demand environment. We have implemented a voluntary separation program as part of the restructuring efforts focused on reducing headcount as we seek to execute on our strategic priorities with our earnings for shareholders and position NetScout for long-term success. Jean will provide more specifics on the outlook in her remarks.

此外，我們也意識到國內服務提供者在提供服務保障方面仍面臨揮之不去的阻力。儘管我們的網路安全產品持續成長，但這可能會產生頂線抵消，導致新財年的收入持平甚至略有下降。我們繼續根據當前的需求環境調整我們的成本結構。我們實施了自願離職計劃，作為重組工作的一部分，重點是減少員工數量，因為我們力求透過為股東帶來收益來執行我們的策略重點，並為 NetScout 取得長期成功奠定基礎。Jean 將在她的演講中提供有關前景的更多具體資訊。

Netscout has always been and remains a long-term focused company and we believe we are well-positioned to benefit from future fundamental demand trends as enterprise and service providers request a leading cybersecurity and service assurance solution to deliver actionable visibility at scale. We remain confident that our visibility without Borders platform is essential for helping customers tackle the performance, availability and cybersecurity challenges of the increasingly complex connected digital world as we also remain committed to delivering long-term shareholder value. We look forward to sharing our progress with everyone on our quarterly earnings calls.

Netscout 始終是一家專注於長期發展的公司，我們相信，隨著企業和服務供應商需要領先的網路安全和服務保障解決方案來大規模提供可操作的可視性，我們能夠從未來的基本需求趨勢中受益。我們仍然相信，我們的可見性無國界平台對於幫助客戶應對日益複雜的互聯數位世界的效能、可用性和網路安全挑戰至關重要，同時我們也仍然致力於提供長期股東價值。我們期待在季度收益電話會議上與大家分享我們的進展。

With that, I will turn the call over to Michael.

這樣，我會將電話轉給麥可。

Thank you, Anil and good morning, everyone. Slide 10 outlines the areas I will be covering today. Starting with Customer Win highlights in the fourth quarter. Our cybersecurity offering secured a multiple seven figures related -- multiple seven-figure DDoS-related deals with both new and existing customers across various geographic markets and industry sectors as customers continue to prioritize investments that protect them against the expanding cybersecurity threat landscape.

謝謝你，阿尼爾，大家早安。投影片 10 概述了我今天將討論的領域。從第四季的「客戶贏得」亮點開始。我們的網路安全產品與不同地理市場和行業領域的新客戶和現有客戶達成了多項與DDoS 相關的七位數相關交易，因為客戶繼續優先考慮投資，以保護他們免受不斷擴大的網路安全威脅情勢的影響。

For example, we've won a low seven-figure deal as we acquired the new financial industry enterprise customer in the Middle East. We had been engaged with this customer over multiple years, pitching the value proposition of our leading DDoS capabilities while they were leveraging our competitors' managed service.

例如，當我們收購中東的新金融業企業客戶時，我們贏得了七位數的低額交易。我們多年來一直與該客戶合作，在他們利用我們競爭對手的託管服務的同時，推銷我們領先的 DDoS 功能的價值主張。

Although, an unfortunate catalyst, the customer experienced a challenging cyber attack and we were able to quickly demonstrate our superior capabilities during the situation. This persuaded customer to buy a full solution suite in a multi-solution purchase with us. That included Arbor Edge Defense, Arbor Cloud, managed services and the resident engineer bringing the capability on-prem and in-house for better control of the cybersecurity defenses.

儘管不幸的是，客戶經歷了具有挑戰性的網路攻擊，但我們能夠在這種情況下快速展示我們的卓越能力。這說服了客戶透過我們購買多解決方案來購買完整的解決方案套件。其中包括 Arbor Edge Defense、Arbor Cloud、託管服務和駐場工程師，這些工程師在本地和內部提供了該功能，以更好地控制網路安全防禦。

Shifting to our Service Assurance offering. And particularly the service provider vertical, we continue to benefit from contracts in support of 5G deployments, upgrades and capacity expansions both domestically and internationally, albeit, at a somewhat muted base given the constrained spending environment in this customer vertical.

轉向我們的服務保證產品。特別是在服務提供者垂直領域，我們繼續受益於支持國內和國際 5G 部署、升級和容量擴展的合同，儘管考慮到該客戶垂直領域的支出環境有限，基數有所減弱。

One example win during the quarter was a 5G-related mid-teens eight-figure deal with a leading Asian Tier 1 service provider that we already support with our solutions through prior 4G network efforts. Given our strong historical performance and incumbent relationship, they selected NetScout to provide visibility for their 5G network. In the bigger picture, we believe the deal is the first of other potential opportunities with this customer as they expand their 5G network in the future.

本季獲勝的一個例子是與一家領先的亞洲一級服務提供商達成的 5G 相關的八位數交易，我們已經透過先前的 4G 網路工作為該提供者提供了解決方案支援。鑑於我們強大的歷史表現和現有關係，他們選擇 NetScout 來為其 5G 網路提供可見性。從更大的角度來看，我們相信，隨著該客戶未來擴展 5G 網絡，這筆交易是他們的第一個潛在機會。

Turning to our go-to-market activities. We attended Mobile World Congress end of this -- in Barcelona in late February, where we held many productive meetings with existing and prospective customers to discuss our latest offerings including service assurance AIML analytics and cybersecurity solutions related to 5G network visibility and cyber security requirements. More recently in May, we attended the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco where we showcased our cyber security solutions and have valuable meetings with existing and prospective customers.

轉向我們的市場推廣活動。年底，我們參加了2 月底在巴塞隆納舉行的世界行動通訊大會，與現有客戶和潛在客戶舉行了多次富有成效的會議，討論我們的最新產品，包括服務保障AIML 分析以及與5G 網路可見性和網路安全要求相關的網路安全解決方案。最近 5 月份，我們參加了在舊金山舉行的 RSA 安全會議，展示了我們的網路安全解決方案，並與現有和潛在客戶舉行了寶貴的會議。

In June, we will head to Las Vegas for Cisco Live as well as the Splunk user conference. And look forward to meeting with customers and partners both current and prospective and demonstrating our visibility with our Borders platform offerings.

六月，我們將前往拉斯維加斯參加 Cisco Live 以及 Splunk 用戶大會。並期待與當前和潛在的客戶和合作夥伴會面，並透過我們的 Borders 平台產品展示我們的知名度。

In our effort to expand our market presence, we recently entered into a technology alliance with Palo Alto Networks, which includes other companies such Nvidia in order to help customers protect against cyber attacks in the nascent private 5G network space. This is a good example of the type of value-creating alliances we are establishing to benefit our customers and our business prospects.

為了擴大市場份額，我們最近與 Palo Alto Networks（包括 Nvidia 等其他公司）建立了技術聯盟，以幫助客戶在新興的專用 5G 網路空間中防範網路攻擊。這是我們為使我們的客戶和業務前景受益而建立的價值創造聯盟類型的一個很好的例子。

This concludes my remarks. Thank you everyone. I will now turn the call over to Jean for review of our financial results.

我的發言到此結束。謝謝大家。我現在將把電話轉給吉恩，以審查我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Michael, and good morning, everyone. I will review key metrics for our fourth quarter and full fiscal-year 2024, and provide some additional commentary on our fiscal-year 2025 outlook. As a reminder, this review focuses on our non-GAAP results unless otherwise stated. And all reconciliations, with our GAAP results appear in the presentation appendix. Regardless, I will note the nature of any such comparison.

謝謝你，邁克爾，大家早安。我將回顧我們第四季和 2024 財年的關鍵指標，並對 2025 財年的前景提供一些額外的評論。提醒一下，除非另有說明，本次審查重點關注我們的非 GAAP 業績。所有調整以及我們的 GAAP 結果都出現在簡報附錄中。無論如何，我會注意任何此類比較的性質。

Slide number 12, details the results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal-year 2024. Focusing on our quarterly performance, total revenue was $203.4 million, down 2.2%. Product revenue was $89.4 million, a decrease of 2%. While service revenue was $114 million, a decrease of 2.4%. All comparisons on a year-over-year basis.

第 12 號投影片詳細介紹了第四季和 2024 年整個財年的業績。關注我們的季度業績，總收入為 2.034 億美元，下降 2.2%。產品收入為 8,940 萬美元，下降 2%。服務收入為 1.14 億美元，下降 2.4%。所有比較均按年度進行。

Gross profit margin was 77.2% in the fourth quarter, down 0.4 percentage points year over year. Quarterly operating expenses decreased 8.3% year over year, primarily due to cost containment efforts. Accordingly, we reported an operating profit margin of 19.2% compared with 15.7% in the same quarter last year. Diluted earnings per share was $0.55, up 44.7% from $0.38 in the same quarter last year.

第四季毛利率為77.2%，較去年同期下降0.4個百分點。季度營運費用較去年同期下降 8.3%，主要得益於成本控制措施。因此，我們的營業利益率為 19.2%，而去年同期為 15.7%。稀釋後每股收益為 0.55 美元，比去年同期的 0.38 美元增長 44.7%。

For the full fiscal-year 2024, revenue was $829.5 million, which was a decrease of 9.3% over the prior year for the reasons previously stated. Product revenue was $360.4 million, a decline of 20%. And service revenue was $469 million, an increase of 1.1% over the prior year. Gross profit margin was 79.4%, an increase of 1.9 percentage points. The improved gross profit margin is attributable to less contribution from lower margin radio frequency propagation modeling project revenue and lower variable compensation expenses year over year.

2024 財年全年營收為 8.295 億美元，比上年下降 9.3%，原因如前所述。產品收入為 3.604 億美元，下降 20%。服務收入為4.69億美元，較上年成長1.1%。毛利率為79.4%，較去年成長1.9個百分點。毛利率的提高歸因於利潤率較低的射頻傳播建模項目收入的貢獻減少以及可變補償費用同比下降。

Annual operating expenses decreased 6.1% from the prior year, primarily due to previously mentioned cost containment actions. We reported a consistent operating profit margin year over year of 22.6%. Diluted earnings per share was $2.20, a 0.9% increase year over year, primarily driven through cost containment actions. Additionally, we had an investment valuation increase in the minority held investment with a favorable tax treatment. This, in combination with the finalization of certain tax positions, reduced our annual tax rate to 17.2%.

年度營運費用比前一年下降 6.1%，主要是由於前面提到的成本控制措施。我們的營業利益率年穩定維持在 22.6%。稀釋每股收益為 2.20 美元，年成長 0.9%，主要是透過成本控制措施推動的。此外，我們的少數股權投資的投資估值有所提高，並享有了優惠的稅收待遇。這與某些稅務立場的最終確定相結合，將我們的年稅率降低至 17.2%。

Turning to slide 13, I will review key revenue trends by product lines and customer verticals. Please note, that all comparisons here on are on a year-over-year basis consistent with our other remarks.

轉向投影片 13，我將按產品線和垂直客戶回顧主要收入趨勢。請注意，此處的所有比較都是逐年比較，與我們的其他評論一致。

For the full year of fiscal-year 2024, our cyber security revenue increased by 15.3%, while our service assurance revenue decreased by 17.8% for the reasons Anil previously mentioned. During the same period, our Service Assurance product line accounted for approximately 67% of our total revenue, while our cybersecurity product line accounted for the remaining 33%.

2024 財年全年，我們的網路安全收入成長了 15.3%，而服務保障收入則因 Anil 先前提到的原因下降了 17.8%。同期，我們的服務保障產品線約占我們總收入的67%，而我們的網路安全產品線佔剩餘的33%。

Turning to our customer verticals. For the full fiscal-year 2024, our enterprise customer vertical revenue was consistent with the prior year, while our service provider customer vertical revenue decreased 17.7%. During the same period, our enterprise customer vertical accounted for approximately 53% of our total revenue, while our service provider customer vertical accounted for the remaining 47%.

轉向我們的客戶垂直領域。2024年整個財年，我們的企業客戶垂直收入與前一年一致，而我們的服務提供者客戶垂直收入下降了17.7%。同期，我們的企業客戶垂直領域占我們總營收的約53%，而我們的服務供應商客戶垂直領域佔剩餘的47%。

Turning to slide 14. This shows our geographic revenue mix. For the full-year fiscal 2024, 57% of our revenue was derived from the United States with the remaining 43% provided by international markets. Regarding the mix shift versus a year ago, international fiscal-year-2024 revenues benefited from growth in both cybersecurity and service assurance offerings, while domestic revenues were primarily impacted by the headwinds related to the Tier 1 domestic service providers as previously discussed. Also, no customer represented 10% or more of our total revenue in the fourth quarter or for the full fiscal-year 2024.

轉到投影片 14。這顯示了我們的地理收入組合。2024 財年全年，我們 57% 的營收來自美國，其餘 43% 來自國際市場。就與一年前相比的結構變化而言，2024 財年國際收入受益於網路安全和服務保障產品的成長，而國內收入主要受到與先前討論的一級國內服務提供者相關的不利因素的影響。此外，沒有客戶占我們第四季或 2024 年整個財年總收入的 10% 或以上。

Slide 15 details our balance sheet highlights and free cash flow. We ended the fourth quarter with $424.1 million in cash, cash equivalents, short- and long-term marketable securities and investments, representing an increase of $94 million since the end of the third quarter of fiscal-year 2024. Free cash flow for the year was $52.5 million. And from a debt perspective, we ended the fourth quarter of fiscal-year 2024 with $100 million outstanding on our $800 million revolving credit facility which expires in July 2026.

投影片 15 詳細介紹了我們的資產負債表亮點和自由現金流。截至第四季末，我們的現金、現金等價物、短期和長期有價證券和投資為 4.241 億美元，較 2024 財年第三季末增加了 9,400 萬美元。本年度自由現金流為 5,250 萬美元。從債務角度來看，截至 2024 財年第四季度，我們的 8 億美元循環信貸額度尚未償還 1 億美元，該額度將於 2026 年 7 月到期。

Also, for the full fiscal-year 2024, we repurchased approximately 1.8 million shares of our common stock for approximately $50 million. We currently have capacity in our share repurchase authorization and subject to market conditions planned to be active in the market during the first half of the fiscal-year 2025.

此外，在 2024 年整個財年，我們以約 5,000 萬美元的價格回購了約 180 萬股普通股。我們目前有能力進行股票回購授權，並根據市場狀況計劃在 2025 財年上半年活躍於市場。

To briefly recap other balance sheet highlights, accounts receivable net was $192.1 million, representing an increase of $48.2 million since March 31, 2023. The DSO metric at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal-year 2024 was 81 days versus 58 days at the end of fiscal-year 2023. The higher DSO metric in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year was due to the timing and composition (inaudible).

簡單回顧一下資產負債表的其他亮點，應收帳款淨額為 1.921 億美元，自 2023 年 3 月 31 日以來增加了 4,820 萬美元。2024 財年第四季末的 DSO 指標為 81 天，而 2023 財年末為 58 天。本財年第四季 DSO 指標較高的原因是時間安排和組成（聽不清楚）。

Moving to slide 16 for commentary on our outlook, I will focus my review on our non-GAAP targets for fiscal-year 2025. We anticipate our fiscal-year-2025 revenue to be approximately $800 million to $830 million. We anticipate non-GAAP diluted earnings per share within the range of $2.10 to $2.30 with the midpoint flat year over year. The effective tax rate is expected to be approximately 20%, as we return to a normalized effective tax rate. Our weighted average diluted shares outstanding is assumed to be approximately $74 million shares which does not currently assume any planned repurchase activity.

請轉到第 16 張投影片來評論我們的前景，我將重點回顧我們 2025 財年的非 GAAP 目標。我們預計 2025 財年的營收約為 8 億至 8.3 億美元。我們預計非 GAAP 攤薄後每股收益將在 2.10 美元至 2.30 美元之間，中位數與去年同期持平。隨著我們回歸正常化的有效稅率，有效稅率預計約為 20%。我們的加權平均稀釋後流通股假設約為 7,400 萬美元，目前不承擔任何計劃的回購活動。

NetScout's fiscal-year 2025 guidance reflects the company's anticipated benefits associated with the previously mentioned voluntary separation program, restructuring actions and ongoing cost management initiatives. In conjunction with these actions, the company expects to record GAAP restructuring charges primarily in the first quarter of fiscal-year 2025 attributable to one-time separation payments in the range of approximately $18 million to $22 million in aggregate. The company expects that these actions will generate annual run rate savings in a similar range with approximately 75% of the benefit expected in fiscal-year 2025, due to the timing of these actions. This is an estimated range and will be finalized as the program is completed.

NetScout 的 2025 財政年度指引反映了該公司與先前提及的自願離職計畫、重組行動和持續成本管理措施相關的預期收益。與這些行動相結合，該公司預計將主要在 2025 財年第一季記錄 GAAP 重組費用，這些費用主要歸因於一次性離職付款，總額約為 1,800 萬美元至 2,200 萬美元。該公司預計，由於這些行動的時間安排，這些行動將產生類似範圍內的年度運行率節省，約佔 2025 財年預期效益的 75%。這是一個估計範圍，將在計劃完成後最終確定。

Finally, I would like to provide some color for the first half of fiscal-year 2025. Assuming the midpoint of our revenue range, we anticipate a revenue skew of approximately 45% in the first half of the fiscal year and 55% in the second half. This is primarily attributable to the prior fiscal year's first quarter benefiting from the usage of approximately $35 million to $40 million from backlog. Accordingly, we expect first quarter of fiscal-year-2025 revenue to be in the range of $165 million to $175 million. As a result, we expect corresponding non-GAAP earnings per share in the range of $0.08 to $0.17 due to the continued cost containment efforts partially offsetting the revenue backlog usages impact.

最後，我想為 2025 財年上半年提供一些色彩。假設我們的收入範圍的中點，我們預計本財年上半年的收入偏差約為 45%，下半年的收入偏差約為 55%。這主要歸因於上一財年第一季受益於約 3,500 萬至 4,000 萬美元積壓資金的使用。因此，我們預計 2025 財年第一季的營收將在 1.65 億美元至 1.75 億美元之間。因此，由於持續的成本控制努力部分抵消了收入積壓使用的影響，我們預計相應的非公認會計準則每股收益將在 0.08 美元至 0.17 美元之間。

That concludes my formal review of our financial results. Before we transition to Q&A, I'd like to quickly note that our upcoming IR conference participation is listed on slide 17. Thank you, and I'll now turn the call over to the operator for questions. Madison?

我對我們財務表現的正式審查到此結束。在我們轉向問答之前，我想快速說明一下，投影片 17 中列出了我們即將參加的 IR 會議。謝謝您，我現在將把電話轉給接線員詢問問題。麥迪遜？

(Operator Instructions) Matt Hedberg, RBC Capital.

（操作員指令）Matt Hedberg，RBC Capital。

Hey, good morning. It's Dan Bergstrom for Matt Hedberg. Thanks for taking our questions. Just from the prepared remarks and trends around service provider spending. Anil, I know you spend a lot of time with those Tier 1 carriers. Maybe, what are you hearing from them as far as budgeting for the new year here? And then, maybe, could you contrast what you're seeing from them with international and demand beyond the Tier 1s?

嗨，早安。這是馬特·赫德伯格的丹·伯格斯特羅姆。感謝您回答我們的問題。僅從準備好的評論和圍繞服務提供者支出的趨勢來看。阿尼爾，我知道您在這些一級運營商身上花了很多時間。也許，關於新年預算，您從他們那裡聽到了什麼？然後，也許您可以將您從他們那裡看到的情況與國際和一級以外的需求進行比較嗎？

Yeah. So overall, Matt, if you look at that top-10 provider in the world, out of them, about eight or nine are big customers of NetScout. So their budget cycles are different. And this quarter, we benefited from some big orders in the international side and they are often lumpy. But overall, I think budgets are -- I mean, the numbers we had last year, our big bookings seem to be stabilizing. And if we didn't have the overhang for the revenue from the calibration stuff from last year, I think we have this area is stabilizing. Budgets are not increasing, they're still tight.

是的。總的來說，Matt，如果你看看全球排名前 10 名的供應商，其中大約有八、九家是 NetScout 的大客戶。所以他們的預算週期是不同的。這個季度，我們受益於國際方面的一些大訂單，而且它們往往是不穩定的。但總的來說，我認為預算是——我的意思是，我們去年的數字，我們的大訂單似乎正在穩定。如果我們沒有去年校準材料帶來的收入懸而未決，我認為我們這個領域正在穩定。預算沒有增加，仍然緊張。

And second thing is what we are hearing is that our technology can be redeployed or used for a different purpose. And we announced our Omnis AI offering in about six months ago. And so, we think that we can drive additional opportunities in that area because we have already on the network and we already have the technology which we can use or repurpose for AIOps solution. And that's where I think some more demand will be there.

第二件事是我們聽到的是我們的技術可以重新部署或用於不同的目的。大約六個月前，我們宣布了 Omnis AI 產品。因此，我們認為我們可以在該領域推動更多機會，因為我們已經在網路上，並且我們已經擁有可以使用或重新用於 AIOps 解決方案的技術。我認為這就是會有更多需求的地方。

At the same time, we have to be selling to a different buyer. So there are some benefits of being in that account, and that's what we are hoping that we will use it to stabilize or perhaps, even grow that Service Assurance plus AI business. And then, the rest of the growth will come from cybersecurity.

同時，我們必須賣給不同的買家。因此，加入該帳戶有一些好處，這就是我們希望利用它來穩定甚至發展服務保障和人工智慧業務的原因。然後，其餘的成長將來自網路安全。

Great. And then, with cybersecurity there, could you dig a little deeper into some of the areas that you're leaning into a bit more here this year?

偉大的。然後，在網路安全方面，您能否更深入地研究今年您更傾向於的一些領域？

So I think if you look at our bulk of the revenue up till now, has been in the Arbor DDoS area, a company we acquired sometime ago. But we never integrated them until about two years ago into the main business. So in addition to the traditional core business of DDoS which is it seem to be doing flat to up, there are two other areas. One is bringing our DPI technology to the DDoS world, and that's what we have been calling adaptive DDoS, and there are some more things we are doing there.

所以我認為，如果你看看我們到目前為止的大部分收入，都來自 Arbor DDoS 領域，這是我們不久前收購的一家公司。但直到大約兩年前我們才將它們整合到主營業務中。因此，除了DDoS的傳統核心業務（似乎表現平平）之外，還有其他兩個領域。一是將我們的 DPI 技術引入 DDoS 世界，這就是我們一直所說的自適應 DDoS，我們還在這方面做更多的事情。

The second area is a brand-new product in the NDR space. We have players like Darktrace and Vectra and some other companies have been playing, that's the Omnis Cyber Intelligence product. So in summary, basically, we have the core business of Arbor DDoS, we have the new Adaptive DDoS solution using some technology from the Service Assurance side, and third is the Omnis cybersecurity in the NDR market.

第二個領域是NDR領域的全新產品。我們有像 Darktrace 和 Vectra 這樣的玩家，還有其他一些公司一直在玩，這就是 Omnis Cyber​​ Intelligence 產品。總而言之，基本上，我們擁有 Arbor DDoS 的核心業務，我們擁有使用服務保障方面的一些技術的新自適應 DDoS 解決方案，第三是 NDR 市場的 Omnis 網路安全。

The last year's numbers is mostly in the first category. And so, we think that now, the solution is maturing in the second and third category. And that's why we are bullish about continued growth in this area.

去年的數字大部分屬於第一類。因此，我們認為現在第二類和第三類的解決方案正在成熟。這就是為什麼我們看好這一領域的持續成長。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Kevin Liu, K. Liu & Company.

劉凱文，K. Liu & Company。

Hi, good morning. Just on the service provider side of things. I was wondering, Anil, if you could talk a little bit longer term beyond this current year. Do you think this is just a pause in terms of their customers your customers' capital deployment? Or do you still see that there being a lot of opportunity around the development of new services like fixed wireless access and other applications that maybe just aren't flowing through the network yet?

早安.只是在服務提供者方面。我想知道，阿尼爾，你是否可以談談今年以外的更長遠的話題。您是否認為這只是他們的客戶的資本部署的暫停？或者您仍然認為圍繞固定無線接入和其他可能尚未通過網路流動的應用程式等新服務的開發存在很多機會？

Yeah. I see Kevin, a lot of interest in that area, but there's still a challenge of budget. And some -- there are people in the industry saying that AIOps is the new name for ITOps, but it appeals to different buyers. And even in the fixed wireless case, there are traditional service assurance use cases which is almost all of our business in the carrier. But there are other cases of misuse of bandwidth, and which fall in the AIOps area. So that's what we think that is the additional opportunity.

是的。我看到凱文對這個領域很感興趣，但仍然存在預算挑戰。還有一些——業內人士稱AIOps是ITOps的新名稱，但它吸引了不同的買家。即使在固定無線案例中，也存在傳統的服務保證用例，這幾乎是我們在營運商中的所有業務。但還有其他濫用頻寬的情況，這些情況屬於 AIOps 領域。這就是我們認為的額外機會。

5G will continue to pick up in different parts of the world, and it will keep a big portion of the core business growing. And there will be additional opportunity which is adjacency in the market even though there is slightly different buyer in that market for AIOps. So we look at both in the Service Assurance for enterprise as well as service provider that some of the markets will move into the AIOps area. And we think that we have the best contacts and technology already in place.

5G將在世界不同地區繼續復甦，並將使大部分核心業務保持成長。儘管 AIOps 市場上的買家略有不同，但市場上也會有額外的機會。因此，我們在企業和服務提供者的服務保障方面都著眼於一些市場將轉移到 AIOps 領域。我們認為我們已經擁有最好的聯繫和技術。

Understood. And could you just elaborate a bit on that AIOps opportunity? How is the usage of your products different in that market versus what you've traditionally done for the wireless provider?

明白了。您能否詳細說明一下 AIOps 機會？您的產品在該市場的使用與您傳統上為無線供應商所做的有何不同？

Yeah. So for example, the use cases are like internal looking at end-user experience for a subscriber, both internal and external audiences in the traditional Service Assurance area, people could look at high-value customers differently, who have better call-in plans, who are willing to pay more, and they may need a different level of service. There could be abuses of bandwidth on the fixed wireless side which could impact all other users on the radio access network. So those are technically fall into the AIOps area and they are not traditionally for direct end-user experience.

是的。例如，用例就像內部關注訂閱者的最終用戶體驗，傳統服務保障領域的內部和外部受眾，人們可以以不同的方式看待高價值客戶，他們有更好的呼入計劃，谁愿意支付更多費用，他們可能需要不同程度的服務。固定無線端可能會濫用頻寬，這可能會影響無線存取網路上的所有其他使用者。因此，從技術上講，這些屬於 AIOps 領域，並且傳統上它們並不用於直接的最終用戶體驗。

So then, there are things in the cybersecurity area with borderline on AIOps where you want to get visibility onto all the hackers, not just they're hacking activity. So there is a whole bunch of use cases. Slicing also technically can be put in the AIOps area. So there are about 20 or so new use cases besides 10 or so we have been going over in terms of end-user experience and service triage. And moving more from troubleshooting and triaging to analytics which is more appealing to business people. And I think that's why I say it can combine higher level of interest and budgets.

因此，在網路安全領域中，有些事情與 AIOps 接壤，您希望了解所有駭客，而不僅僅是他們的駭客活動。所以有一大堆用例。切片在技術上也可以放在AIOps領域。因此，除了我們在最終用戶體驗和服務分類方面一直在研究的 10 個左右的新用例之外，還有大約 20 個左右的新用例。更多地從故障排除和分類轉向對業務人員更有吸引力的分析。我認為這就是為什麼我說它可以結合更高程度的興趣和預​​算。

Great. Thank you for that color. And if I could just sneak in one more on the cybersecurity side. Can you talk a little bit about how much of your business over the past year might have been directly attributable to the some of the geopolitical conflicts going on? And as you're thinking about your customer spending for this year, would you expect that buying to be repeated from your existing customers? Or do you have to go out and acquire new customers? Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝你的那個顏色。如果我能在網路安全方面再偷偷介紹一下就好了。您能否談談過去一年中您的業務有多少直接歸因於正在發生的一些地緣政治衝突？當您考慮今年的客戶支出時，您是否預期現有客戶會重複購買？或者你必須出去獲取新客戶嗎？謝謝。

Yeah. I think it might be -- it's very hard to know what is directly attributable because we don't have a special option for that. But yeah, there was the impact. But overall, the DDoS attack and cyber attacks are rising everywhere and for various reasons.

是的。我認為可能是——很難知道什麼是直接歸因的，因為我們沒有特殊的選擇。但是，是的，影響是存在的。但總體而言，由於各種原因，DDoS 攻擊和網路攻擊在各地不斷增加。

And now, we have elections coming. We have Olympics coming in France. And so, all these events are opportunity for hackers to go after. So we are seeing interest in that area. For example, in the Europe area, for the Olympics and US elections. So I think we can call them all geopolitical events in some sense. But there is always something like this is going on, in addition to normal attack everyday increasing.

現在，我們即將舉行選舉。法國即將舉辦奧運。因此，所有這些事件都是駭客追蹤的機會。所以我們看到了人們對該領域的興趣。例如，在歐洲地區，針對奧運和美國大選。所以我認為在某種意義上我們可以稱它們為地緣政治事件。但總有這樣的事情發生，除了普通攻擊每天都在增加之外。

Also, there is another dimension, Kevin, which is more smaller sophisticated attack which we call Application-Layer Attacks. So this Adaptive DDoS which we have come up with, that option allows us to go after those activities where the traditional prior solution of Arbor was mainly volumetric attack. And so, we have adjusted our product to some of those newer types of attacks, whether it's because of geopolitical situation or other reasons.

此外，還有另一個維度 Kevin，這是更小型、更複雜的攻擊，我們稱之為應用程式層攻擊。因此，我們提出的自適應 DDoS，該選項使我們能夠追蹤 Arbor 傳統先前解決方案主要是容量攻擊的活動。因此，無論是由於地緣政治局勢還是其他原因，我們都針對一些較新類型的攻擊調整了我們的產品。

Great. Thanks for the responses, and good luck this fiscal year.

偉大的。感謝您的回复，祝本財年好運。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. It appears that we have no further questions at this time. I will now turn the program back over to Tony Piazza for closing remarks.

謝謝。目前看來我們沒有其他問題了。我現在將把節目交還給托尼·皮亞扎（Tony Piazza）進行閉幕致辭。

Thank you, operator. That concludes our call for today. Thank you for joining us, and have a good day.

謝謝你，接線生。我們今天的呼籲到此結束。感謝您加入我們，祝您有美好的一天。

This does conclude today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time.

今天的節目到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以隨時斷開連線。