-
Zscaler Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial Results
Source: Nasdaq GlobeNewswire / 02 Dec 2024 16:05:00 America/New_York
First Quarter Highlights
- Revenue grows 26% year-over-year to $628.0 million
- Calculated billings grows 13% year-over-year to $516.7 million
- Deferred revenue grows 27% year-over-year to $1,783.7 million
- GAAP net loss of $12.1 million compared to GAAP net loss of $33.5 million on a year-over-year basis
- Non-GAAP net income of $124.3 million compared to non-GAAP net income of $86.4 million on a year-over-year basis
SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zscaler, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZS), the leader in cloud security, today announced financial results for its first quarter of fiscal year 2025, ended October 31, 2024.
“Growing customer engagements and strong sales execution drove a solid Q1 with all metrics exceeding our guidance. The combination of Zero Trust and AI is creating exciting new opportunities, which we are well positioned to capture with our large and expanding platform,” said Jay Chaudhry, Chairman and CEO of Zscaler. “With our customer obsession, the world’s largest cybersecurity cloud, and an upleveled go-to-market machine, we are driving strong growth.”
First Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial Highlights
- Revenue: $628.0 million, an increase of 26% year-over-year.
- Income (loss) from operations: GAAP loss from operations was $30.7 million, or 5% of revenue, compared to $46.1 million, or 9% of revenue, in the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Non-GAAP income from operations was $134.1 million, or 21% of revenue, compared to $89.7 million, or 18% of revenue, in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.
- Net income (loss): GAAP net loss was $12.1 million, compared to $33.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Non-GAAP net income was $124.3 million, compared to $86.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.
- Net income (loss) per share, diluted: GAAP net loss per share was $0.08, compared to $0.23 in the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Non-GAAP net income per share was $0.77, compared to $0.55 in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.
- Cash flows: Cash provided by operations was $331.3 million, or 53% of revenue, compared to $260.8 million, or 53% of revenue, in the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Free cash flow was $291.9 million, or 46% of revenue, compared to $224.7 million, or 45% of revenue, in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.
- Deferred revenue: $1,783.7 million as of October 31, 2024, an increase of 27% year-over-year.
- Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments: $2,707.9 million as of October 31, 2024, an increase of $298.2 million from July 31, 2024.
Recent Business Highlights
- Zscaler’s cloud security platform reached a new scalability milestone, surpassing half a trillion daily transactions, which is nearly 60 times greater than the total number of Google searches per day. This milestone underscores the unparalleled scalability, resilience, and trust customers have placed in the Zscaler platform, which enables organizations to secure users, applications, and devices, while simplifying operations and consolidating costs.
- Appointed Adam Geller as Chief Product Officer to accelerate Zscaler’s next phase of innovation and growth. Geller’s proven security product and engineering experience will be invaluable to the development of Zscaler’s AI-driven security operations platform.
- Announced a set of AI and Zero Trust integrations with the CrowdStrike Falcon® cybersecurity platform to advance security operations by providing advanced threat detection, response, and risk management.
- Announced four new integrations with Okta designed to accelerate joint customers' Zero Trust transformation by delivering end-to-end, context-aware security. Together, Okta and Zscaler are helping customers reduce risk, improve the user experience, and enable cross-domain response through shared telemetry and threat intelligence.
- Published the Zscaler ThreatLabz 2024 Mobile, IoT, and OT Threat Report, which provides detailed insights covering mobile and IoT/OT cyber threat landscape from June 2023 through May 2024. ThreatLabz found that the Zscaler cloud blocked 45% more IoT malware transactions than last year–indicating botnets continue to proliferate across IoT devices.
Change in Non-GAAP Measures Presentation
Effective August 1, 2024, the beginning of our fiscal year ending July 31, 2025, we are using a long-term projected non-GAAP tax rate of 23% for the purpose of determining our non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share to provide better consistency across interim reporting periods in fiscal 2025 and beyond. Given the significant growth of our business and non-GAAP operating income, we believe this change is necessary to better reflect the performance of our business. We will continue to assess the appropriate non-GAAP tax rate on a regular basis, which could be subject to changes for a variety of reasons, including the rapidly evolving global tax environment, significant changes in our geographic earnings mix, or other changes to our strategy or business operations. Prior period amounts have been recast to reflect this change.
Financial Outlook
For the second quarter of fiscal 2025, we expect:
- Revenue of $633 million to $635 million
- Non-GAAP income from operations of $126 million to $128 million
- Non-GAAP net income per share of approximately $0.68 to $0.69, assuming approximately 163 million fully diluted shares outstanding and a non-GAAP tax rate of 23%
For the full year of fiscal 2025, we expect:
- Revenue of approximately $2.623 billion to $2.643 billion
- Calculated billings of $3.124 billion to $3.149 billion
- Non-GAAP income from operations of $549 million to $559 million
- Non-GAAP net income per share of $2.94 to $2.99, assuming approximately 164 million fully diluted shares outstanding and a non-GAAP tax rate of 23%
These statements are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially. Refer to the Forward-Looking Statements safe harbor below for information on the factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.
Guidance for non-GAAP income from operations excludes stock-based compensation expense and related employer payroll taxes, amortization of debt issuance costs, and amortization expense of acquired intangible assets. We have not reconciled our expectations of non-GAAP income from operations and non-GAAP net income per share to their most directly comparable GAAP measures because certain items are out of our control or cannot be reasonably predicted. For those reasons, we are also unable to address the probable significance of the unavailable information, the variability of which may have a significant impact on future results. Accordingly, a reconciliation for the guidance for non-GAAP income from operations and non-GAAP net income per share is not available without unreasonable effort.
For further information regarding why we believe that these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors, the specific manner in which management uses these measures, and some of the limitations associated with the use of these measures, please refer to the "Explanation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" section of this press release.
Conference Call and Webcast Information
Zscaler will host a conference call for analysts and investors to discuss its first quarter of fiscal 2025 and outlook for its second quarter of fiscal 2025 and full year fiscal 2025 today at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time (4:30 p.m. Eastern time).
Date: Monday, December 2, 2024 Time: 1:30 p.m. PT Webcast: https://ir.zscaler.com Dial-in: To join by phone, register at the following link: (https://register.vevent.com/register/BIe2c2c82d1e694dd3a00b3debc6f30548). After registering, you will be provided with a dial-in number and a personal PIN that you will need to join the call. Upcoming Conferences
Second quarter of fiscal 2025 investor conference participation schedule:
- UBS Global Technology and AI Conference in Scottsdale
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
- BTIG Virtual Software Forum
Monday, December 9, 2024
- Scotiabank Annual Global Technology Conference in San Francisco
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
- Barclays Annual Global Technology Conference in San Francisco
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
- Needham Growth Conference
Thursday, January 9, 2025 and Friday, January 10, 2025
Sessions which offer a webcast will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Zscaler website at https://ir.zscaler.com/
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, statements regarding our future financial and operating performance, including our financial outlook for the second quarter of fiscal 2025 and full year fiscal 2025. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this press release, including but not limited to: macroeconomic influences and instability, geopolitical events, operations and financial results and the economy in general; risks related to the use of AI in our platform; our limited operating history; our ability to identify and effectively implement the necessary changes to address execution challenges; risks associated with managing our rapid growth, including fluctuations from period to period; our limited experience with new products and subscriptions and support introductions and the risks associated with new products and subscription and support offerings, including the discovery of software bugs; our ability to attract and retain new customers; the failure to timely develop and achieve market acceptance of new products and subscriptions as well as existing products and subscription and support; rapidly evolving technological developments in the market for network security products and subscription and support offerings and our ability to remain competitive; length of sales cycles; useful lives of our assets and other estimates; and general market, political, economic and business conditions.
Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect our financial results are included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” set forth from time to time in our filings and reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2024, filed on September 12, 2024, as well as future filings and reports by us, copies of which are available on our website at ir.zscaler.com and on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. You should not rely on these forward-looking statements, as actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements as a result of such risks and uncertainties. Additional information will also be set forth in other filings that we make with the SEC from time to time. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information
We believe that the presentation of non-GAAP financial information provides important supplemental information to management and investors regarding financial and business trends relating to our financial condition and results of operations. For further information regarding why we believe that these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors, the specific manner in which management uses these measures, and some of the limitations associated with the use of these measures, please refer to the “Explanation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section of this press release.
About Zscaler
Zscaler (Nasdaq: ZS) accelerates digital transformation so customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ platform protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location. Distributed across more than 160 data centers globally, the SSE-based Zero Trust Exchange is the world’s largest in-line cloud security platform.
Zscaler™ and the other trademarks listed at https://www.zscaler.com/legal/trademarks are either (i) registered trademarks or service marks or (ii) trademarks or service marks of Zscaler, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Any other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.
Investor Relations Contacts
Ashwin Kesireddy
VP, Investor Relations and Strategic Finance
(415) 798-1475
ir@zscaler.comNatalia Wodecki
Media Relations Contact
press@zscaler.comZSCALER, INC. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands, except per share amounts) (unaudited) Three Months Ended October 31, 2024 2023 Revenue $ 627,955 $ 496,703 Cost of revenue (1) (2) 141,462 111,394 Gross profit 486,493 385,309 Operating expenses: Sales and marketing (1) (2) 306,087 267,111 Research and development (1) (2) 154,254 113,539 General and administrative (1) 56,819 50,716 Total operating expenses 517,160 431,366 Loss from operations (30,667 ) (46,057 ) Interest income 30,048 25,942 Interest expense (3) (3,143 ) (3,159 ) Other expense, net (652 ) (1,212 ) Loss before income taxes (4,414 ) (24,486 ) Provision for income taxes 7,637 8,997 Net loss $ (12,051 ) $ (33,483 ) Net loss per share, basic and diluted $ (0.08 ) $ (0.23 ) Weighted-average shares used in computing net loss per share, basic and diluted 152,557 147,625 (1) Includes stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes as follows:
Cost of revenue $ 15,793 $ 12,955 Sales and marketing 64,866 58,668 Research and development 58,865 41,043 General and administrative 21,050 20,063 Total $ 160,574 $ 132,729 (2) Includes amortization expense of acquired intangible assets as follows:
Cost of revenue $ 3,675 $ 2,717 Sales and marketing 425 226 Research and development 140 93 Total $ 4,240 $ 3,036 (3) Includes amortization of debt issuance costs $ 981 $ 977 ZSCALER, INC. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands) (unaudited) October 31, July 31, 2024 2024 Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 1,553,645 $ 1,423,080 Short-term investments 1,154,252 986,574 Accounts receivable, net 424,573 736,529 Deferred contract acquisition costs 152,475 148,873 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 108,835 101,561 Total current assets 3,393,780 3,396,617 Property and equipment, net 409,005 383,121 Operating lease right-of-use assets 84,091 89,758 Deferred contract acquisition costs, noncurrent 286,656 296,525 Acquired intangible assets, net 59,595 63,835 Goodwill 417,029 417,029 Other noncurrent assets 58,846 58,083 Total assets $ 4,709,002 $ 4,704,968 Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 25,368 $ 23,309 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities 83,384 91,708 Accrued compensation 126,379 160,810 Deferred revenue 1,533,080 1,643,919 Convertible senior notes 1,145,799 1,142,275 Operating lease liabilities 49,600 50,866 Total current liabilities 2,963,610 3,112,887 Deferred revenue, noncurrent 250,640 251,055 Operating lease liabilities, noncurrent 41,938 44,824 Other noncurrent liabilities 24,269 22,100 Total liabilities 3,280,457 3,430,866 Stockholders’ Equity Common stock 153 152 Additional paid-in capital 2,593,010 2,426,819 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (4,487 ) (4,789 ) Accumulated deficit (1,160,131 ) (1,148,080 ) Total stockholders’ equity 1,428,545 1,274,102 Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 4,709,002 $ 4,704,968 ZSCALER, INC. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (in thousands) (unaudited) Three Months Ended October 31, 2024 2023 Cash Flows from Operating Activities Net loss $ (12,051 ) $ (33,483 ) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization expense 21,423 13,962 Amortization expense of acquired intangible assets 4,240 3,036 Amortization of deferred contract acquisition costs 39,068 30,111 Amortization of debt issuance costs 981 977 Non-cash operating lease costs 15,657 9,903 Stock-based compensation expense 157,178 129,138 Accretion of investments purchased at a discount (5,003 ) (3,199 ) Unrealized losses on hedging transactions 3,689 1,564 Deferred income taxes 186 (43 ) Other 644 1,031 Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of effects of business acquisitions: Accounts receivable 311,975 215,082 Deferred contract acquisition costs (32,801 ) (27,680 ) Prepaid expenses, other current and noncurrent assets (8,767 ) 1,349 Accounts payable 1,043 4,596 Accrued expenses, other current and noncurrent liabilities (6,240 ) 4,859 Accrued compensation (34,431 ) (39,232 ) Deferred revenue (111,254 ) (40,154 ) Operating lease liabilities (14,202 ) (11,011 ) Net cash provided by operating activities 331,335 260,806 Cash Flows from Investing Activities Purchases of property, equipment and other assets (17,025 ) (28,659 ) Capitalized internal-use software (22,429 ) (7,429 ) Payments for business acquisitions, net of cash acquired — (4,377 ) Purchase of strategic investments (561 ) — Purchases of short-term investments (430,296 ) (375,929 ) Proceeds from maturities of short-term investments 268,651 253,849 Net cash used in investing activities (201,660 ) (162,545 ) Cash Flows from Financing Activities Proceeds from issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options 890 1,256 Net cash provided by financing activities 890 1,256 Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 130,565 99,517 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 1,423,080 1,262,206 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 1,553,645 $ 1,361,723 ZSCALER, INC. Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures (in thousands, except percentages) (unaudited) Three Months Ended October 31, 2024 2023 Revenue $ 627,955 $ 496,703 Non-GAAP Gross Profit and Non-GAAP Gross Margin GAAP gross profit $ 486,493 $ 385,309 Add: Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes 15,793 12,955 Add: Amortization expense of acquired intangible assets 3,675 2,717 Non-GAAP gross profit $ 505,961 $ 400,981 GAAP gross margin 77 % 78 % Non-GAAP gross margin 81 % 81 % Non-GAAP Income from Operations and Non-GAAP Operating Margin GAAP loss from operations $ (30,667 ) $ (46,057 ) Add: Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes 160,574 132,729 Add: Amortization expense of acquired intangible assets 4,240 3,036 Non-GAAP income from operations $ 134,147 $ 89,708 GAAP operating margin (5 )% (9 )% Non-GAAP operating margin 21 % 18 % ZSCALER, INC. Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures (in thousands, except per share amounts) (unaudited) Three Months Ended October 31, 2024 2023 Non-GAAP Net Income per Share, Diluted GAAP net loss $ (12,051 ) $ (33,483 ) Add: GAAP provision for income taxes 7,637 8,997 GAAP loss before income taxes (4,414 ) (24,486 ) Add: Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes 160,574 132,729 Amortization expense of acquired intangible assets 4,240 3,036 Amortization of debt issuance costs 981 977 Non-GAAP net income before income taxes 161,381 112,256 Non-GAAP provision for income taxes (1) 37,118 25,819 Non-GAAP net income $ 124,263 $ 86,437 Add: Non-GAAP interest expense related to the convertible senior notes 359 359 Numerator used in computing non-GAAP net income per share, diluted $ 124,622 $ 86,796 GAAP net loss per share, diluted $ (0.08 ) $ (0.23 ) Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes 1.00 0.84 Amortization expense of acquired intangible assets 0.03 0.02 Amortization of debt issuance costs 0.01 0.01 Non-GAAP provision for income taxes adjustment (2) (0.18 ) (0.11 ) Non-GAAP interest expense related to the convertible senior notes — — Adjustment to total fully diluted earnings per share (3) (0.01 ) 0.02 Non-GAAP net income per share, diluted $ 0.77 $ 0.55 Weighted-average shares used in computing GAAP net loss per share, diluted 152,557 147,625 Add: Outstanding potentially dilutive equity incentive awards 2,348 3,431 Add: Convertible senior notes 7,626 7,626 Less: Antidilutive impact of capped call transactions (4) (1,235 ) (177 ) Weighted-average shares used in computing non-GAAP net income per share, diluted 161,296 158,505 ___________________
(1) Effective August 1, 2024, the beginning of our fiscal year ending July 31, 2025, we are using a long-term projected non-GAAP tax rate of 23% for the purpose of determining our non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share to provide better consistency across interim reporting periods in fiscal 2025 and beyond. Given the significant growth of our business and non-GAAP operating income, we believe this change is necessary to better reflect the performance of our business. We will continue to assess the appropriate non-GAAP tax rate on a regular basis, which could be subject to changes for a variety of reasons, including the rapidly evolving global tax environment, significant changes in our geographic earnings mix, or other changes to our strategy or business operations. Prior period amounts have been recast to reflect this change.
(2) Adjustment related to the difference between the GAAP provision for income taxes and Non-GAAP provision for income taxes.
(3) The sum of the fully diluted earnings per share impact of individual reconciling items may not total to fully diluted non-GAAP net income per share due to the weighted-average shares used in computing the GAAP net loss per share differs from the weighted-average shares used in computing the non-GAAP net income per share, and due to rounding of the individual reconciling items. The GAAP net loss per share calculation uses a lower share count as it excludes potentially dilutive shares, which are included in calculating the non-GAAP net income per share.
(4) We exclude the in-the-money portion of the convertible senior notes for non-GAAP weighted-average diluted shares as they are covered by our capped call transactions. Our outstanding capped call transactions are antidilutive under GAAP but are expected to mitigate the dilutive effect of the convertible senior notes, and therefore are included in the calculation of non-GAAP diluted shares outstanding. The capped calls have an antidilutive impact when the average stock price of our common stock in a given period is higher than their exercise price.
ZSCALER, INC. Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures (in thousands, except percentages) (unaudited) Three Months Ended October 31, 2024 2023 Calculated Billings Revenue $ 627,955 $ 496,703 Add: Total deferred revenue, end of period 1,783,720 1,399,544 Less: Total deferred revenue, beginning of period (1,894,974 ) (1,439,676 ) Calculated billings $ 516,701 $ 456,571 Free Cash Flow Net cash provided by operating activities $ 331,335 $ 260,806 Less: Purchases of property, equipment and other assets (17,025 ) (28,659 ) Less: Capitalized internal-use software (22,429 ) (7,429 ) Free cash flow $ 291,881 $ 224,718 Free Cash Flow Margin Net cash provided by operating activities, as a percentage of revenue 53 % 53 % Less: Purchases of property, equipment and other assets, as a percentage of revenue (3 )% (6 )% Less: Capitalized internal-use software, as a percentage of revenue (4 )% (2 )% Free cash flow margin 46 % 45 % ZSCALER, INC.
Explanation of Non-GAAP Financial MeasuresIn addition to our results determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America ("GAAP"), we believe the following non-GAAP measures are useful in evaluating our operating performance. We use the following non-GAAP financial information to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial information, when taken collectively, may be helpful to investors because it provides consistency and comparability with past financial performance. However, non-GAAP financial information is presented for supplemental informational purposes only, as it has limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. In particular, free cash flow is not a substitute for cash provided by operating activities. Additionally, the utility of free cash flow as a measure of our liquidity is further limited as it does not represent the total increase or decrease in our cash balance for a given period. In addition, other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate similarly titled non-GAAP measures differently or may use other measures to evaluate their performance, all of which could reduce the usefulness of our non-GAAP financial measures as tools for comparison. A reconciliation of our historical non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable financial measures stated in accordance with GAAP has been included in this press release. Investors are cautioned that there are a number of limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures and key metrics as analytical tools. Investors are encouraged to review these reconciliations, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.
Expenses Excluded from Non-GAAP Measures
Stock-based compensation expense is excluded primarily because it is a non-cash expense that management believes is not reflective of our ongoing operational performance. Employer payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation, which is a cash expense, are excluded because these are tied to the timing and size of the exercise or vesting of the underlying equity incentive awards and the price of our common stock at the time of vesting or exercise, which may vary from period to period independent of the operating performance of our business. Amortization expense of acquired intangible assets and amortization of debt issuance costs from the convertible senior notes are excluded because these are non-cash expenses and are not reflective of our ongoing operational performance.
Effective August 1, 2024, the beginning of our fiscal year ending July 31, 2025, we are using a long-term projected non-GAAP tax rate of 23% for the purpose of determining our non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share to provide better consistency across interim reporting periods. Given the significant growth of our business and non-GAAP operating income, we believe this change is necessary to better reflect the performance of our business. We will continue to assess the appropriate non-GAAP tax rate on a regular basis, which could be subject to changes for a variety of reasons, including the rapidly evolving global tax environment, significant changes in our geographic earnings mix, or other changes to our strategy or business operations. Prior period amounts have been recast to reflect this change.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Non-GAAP Gross Profit and Non-GAAP Gross Margin. We define non-GAAP gross profit as GAAP gross profit excluding stock-based compensation expense and related employer payroll taxes and amortization expense of acquired intangible assets. We define non-GAAP gross margin as non-GAAP gross profit as a percentage of revenue.
Non-GAAP Income from Operations and Non-GAAP Operating Margin. We define non-GAAP income from operations as GAAP loss from operations excluding stock-based compensation expense and related employer payroll taxes and amortization expense of acquired intangible assets. We define non-GAAP operating margin as non-GAAP income from operations as a percentage of revenue.
Non-GAAP Net Income per Share, Diluted. We define non-GAAP net income as GAAP net loss excluding stock-based compensation expense and related employer payroll taxes, amortization expense of acquired intangible assets, amortization of debt issuance costs, and the non-GAAP provision for income taxes adjustment. We define non-GAAP net income per share, diluted, as non-GAAP net income plus the non-GAAP interest expense related to the convertible senior notes divided by the weighted-average diluted shares outstanding, which includes the effect of potentially diluted common stock equivalents outstanding during the period and the anti-dilutive impact of the capped call transactions entered into in connection with the convertible senior notes.
Calculated Billings. We define calculated billings as revenue plus the change in deferred revenue in a period. Calculated billings in any particular period aims to reflect amounts invoiced for subscriptions to access our cloud platform, together with related support services for our new and existing customers. We typically invoice our customers annually in advance, and to a lesser extent quarterly in advance, monthly in advance or multi-year in advance.
Free Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow Margin. We define free cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of property, equipment and other assets and capitalized internal-use software. We define free cash flow margin as free cash flow divided by revenue. We believe that free cash flow and free cash flow margin are useful indicators of liquidity that provide information to management and investors about the amount of cash generated from our operations that, after the investments in property, equipment and other assets and capitalized internal-use software, can be used for strategic initiatives.
