Palo Alto Networks stock traded up nearly 5 percent after-hours on Wednesday after the company reported a stellar fourth quarter.

Not only were sales up — to the point where the security vendor's first-quarter projection feels almost tepid — but Palo Alto also rattled off a few major wins scored against rivals Check Point Software and Cisco.

In a seven-figure deal, a North American brokerage and banking house chose Palo Alto's gear to displace Cisco's, CEO Mark McLaughlin said on Wednesday's earnings call.

He later mentioned a "seven-figure deal" that also included VMware's NSX network virtualization platform, although it wasn't clear if this was the same deal. VMware and Palo Alto struck a partnership in 2013 to pursue data center business.

Other wins that McLaughlin crowed about included a government agency in Asia that replaced Cisco with Palo Alto; a utility provider that chose Palo Alto over Check Point; and a large U.S.-based airline where Palo Alto displaced Check Point.

For its fourth quarter, which ended July 31, Palo Alto reported revenues of $284 million and a net loss of $46 million, or 55 cents per share. For the same quarter a year ago, Palo Alto reported revenues of $178 million and a net loss of $32 million, or 11 cents per share.

Non-GAAP net income of 28 cents per share bested the analysts' consensus of 25 cents, according to Thomson Financial.

The fourth quarter was unexpectedly strong, so Palo Alto issued a first-quarter outlook that calls for first-quarter sales of $280 million to $284 million — flat compared with the fourth quarter, essentially. Company officials also pointed out that Palo Alto's second and fourth fiscal quarters tend to be its strongest.