Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) is reshaping its go-to-market organization as it works toward a goal of sustainable double-digit growth, Global Head of Investor Relations Kip E. Meintzer said during a Jefferies fireside discussion hosted by cybersecurity analyst Joe Gallo.
Meintzer said the company’s strategy has evolved under its new CEO, Nadav Zafrir, with a focus on aligning Check Point’s product portfolio and sales organization around enterprise demand, artificial intelligence and broader cybersecurity consolidation. He said the company’s major product pillars include Quantum for networking, Workspace for user-based technologies, continuous threat exposure management, and AI-related offerings tied to large language models and agents.
Sales Changes Target Enterprise Accounts and New Logos
Meintzer said Check Point had not been growing at the level management wanted, noting that prior growth of roughly 1% year over year was “just not going to cut it” for the company’s ambitions. The company responded by reorganizing its sales coverage, moving its sales force to focus more squarely on enterprise accounts while shifting the mid-market to inside sales and the channel.
He said sales representatives now have a smaller set of assigned accounts, generally between three and five, to improve focus on upselling, cross-selling and expansion. Check Point also added dedicated “hunters” focused on new customer acquisition, rather than relying primarily on existing account managers to pursue new logos.
“That’s really the place where we needed to grow, was getting the new logo, the big expansion out,” Meintzer said.
Meintzer also discussed leadership changes in North America, saying Rachel Roberts is now heading up the region. He said the company has added other industry veterans, including a global channel head from CyberArk, and is prioritizing cybersecurity experience when filling sales roles.
Product Disruption Expected to Ease Later This Year
Meintzer said the go-to-market changes were more disruptive than the company initially expected, particularly on the product side. He said the subscription portion of the business was not changed in the company’s guidance, while product results were affected by timing issues tied to getting people in place and aligning compensation.
“What we see in the pipeline is very strong pipeline for third quarter, fourth quarter,” Meintzer said, while cautioning that “building and converting are two different things.”
He said investors should expect to see signs of improvement during the year, with the changes beginning to come together more solidly in the fourth quarter and beyond. He also said the company hopes for a “very prosperous 2027.”
Subscription Growth and AI Security Remain Key Themes
Gallo described subscription as a bright spot, noting that an emerging portion of the business was growing strongly. Meintzer pointed to Check Point’s continuous threat exposure management business, saying it grew 96% in annual recurring revenue year over year, as discussed on the company’s first-quarter call.
Meintzer said he does not see that area as close to running out of opportunity and described it as “probably the brightest spot in the portfolio right now.” He also said Harmony, the company’s user-focused technology portfolio, continues to progress.
On AI, Meintzer said Check Point’s long-standing emphasis on prevention and protection is becoming more relevant as enterprises adopt AI and agentic technologies. He argued that relying on detection and remediation alone is less suitable in an AI-driven security environment.
SASE Scaling Still Underway
Asked about SASE and the company’s acquisition of Perimeter 81, Meintzer said Check Point is still scaling the offering for its largest customers. He said the company is “12-18 months” away from being at the level it wants for clients with hundreds of thousands of users.
Meintzer said Check Point can currently serve a large portion of its customer base, but is not yet where it wants to be for the largest deployments. He said further infrastructure buildout and architectural expansion of the product are expected to drive progress over the next 12 to 18 months.
Pricing, Margins and Investment Plans
Meintzer said Check Point implemented a 5% price increase on April 1, tied in part to memory costs. He said the company had previously identified a 1% headwind to gross margin from memory and related components, and that future pricing decisions will depend on market conditions and memory requirements.
On product growth, Meintzer said Check Point would like to grow at the market rate, which he described as higher than 5%. He said mid- to high-single-digit growth or higher is something the company strives for, though he added that it will depend on what the company and the market can support.
Regarding profitability, Meintzer said Check Point has already done “quite a bit of hiring,” but characterized the changes as more focused on bringing in the right people than on significantly increasing headcount. He said the company does not currently see a need for abnormal investment and does not expect the current efforts to adversely affect operating margin.
“Right now it’s all about execution,” Meintzer said.
About Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP)
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is an Israeli-founded cybersecurity company that develops, markets and supports a broad portfolio of network, cloud and endpoint security products. Founded in 1993, the company was an early pioneer of stateful inspection firewall technology and later developed a modular “software blade” approach that allowed customers to combine protection capabilities. Check Point’s product set spans physical and virtual security appliances, software and cloud-native services designed to prevent cyberattacks, protect data and simplify security management for enterprises and service providers.
Key product families include Quantum Security Gateways (on-premises and hybrid appliances), CloudGuard (cloud security posture and workload protection), Harmony (endpoint, remote access and unified endpoint security), and SandBlast (advanced threat prevention and sandboxing).
