FireEye Shares Drop Prior to Opening Bell on CFO Departure

Shares of FireEye Inc, the cyber security company fell during Friday’s premarket trading, the morning after the CFO of the company announced he would be leaving.

Michael Sheridan had been the CFO dating back to 2011 and the company said he was leaving in August to be the CFO at a tech company that is privately held in an industry that is unrelated.

The interim CFO will be Frank Verdecanna, the current finance vice president announced the company on Thursday night.

David DeWalt the Chairman and CEO at FireEye said that Sheridan had helped to build the company from its early stages to a global leader in advanced threat protection.

FireEye has expanded quickly over the past few months as hackers have invaded computer systems of large companies with more and more frequency and the corporate victims have scrambled to contain damage and prevent intrusions in the future.

FireEye, which is based in Silicon Valley and staffed with a host of former law-enforcement and military cyber experts, had been called to investigate many high profile attacks against JPMorgan Chase, Target, Anthem, Sony Pictures and others.

Despite the share-price drop early on Friday, analysts have called the departure of Sheridan a non-event. One analyst said that David DeWalt remains the face of the company on Wall Street.

Another analyst agreed by saying that while change in senior management could create some element of confusion amongst investors, it is our belief that Sheridan’s departure is one of a personal nature and in no way indicative of issues with the company.

Meanwhile, the company, based in Milpitas, California reported an 87 cents a share loss. Losses adjusted for expenses in stock options and in amortization costs, reached 41 cents a share, which was less than the expectations of 48 cents by Wall Street.

Revenue was up 56% to just over $147.4 million ahead of the expectation of $143 million by analysts on the Street.