Companies around the globe are tightening their budgetary belts in preparation for possible turbulence in 2023 -- or, maybe it's just an effort to revamp profit margins after a couple of spending-spree years early in the pandemic. Whatever the reason, the tech world has been feeling the pinch. Even the mighty cloud industry has been dealing with a sharp slowdown in spending as customers take longer to approve new IT projects.

Against this backdrop, cybersecurity has remained a high-flying sub-industry. Why? In an increasingly digital world, leaving operations unprotected just isn't an option. In its latest quarter, Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) clobbered expectations and put up sizzling growth. Nevertheless, the stock still fell after the update and is down roughly 45% over the past year. What's up with that, and is it time to sell?

Zscaler's fiscal second quarter of 2023 (the three months ended in January 2023) was impressive; revenue was up 52% year over year and came in at nearly $388 million. That obliterated the outlook provided a few months ago for revenue to be as much as $366 million. Adjusted net income of $57.6 million also exceeded the guide for as much as $43 million.

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Source Fool.com