Palo Alto
Networks has reassured analysts with its latest earnings report after a brief panic over its unusual timing. Its longer term growth guidance was boosting other stocks in the cybersecurity sector on Monday.
Palo Alto’s (ticker: PANW) shares were up 11% in premarket trading on Monday to $233.20. The stock had fallen about 18% in the run-up to Friday’s report following the announcement of the timing of the release and earnings call.
Zscaler
shares were up 5% in the premarket and
CrowdStrike
was up 2.9%.
Palo Alto late-Friday report didn’t bring the bad news that was feared, as the security-software company topped analysts’ estimates. However, Wall Street analysts are focusing on its guidance for further in the future. The company said it expects a 17%-19% compound annual growth rate in both revenue and billings over the next three years.
The positive outlook is a relief for the cybersecurity sector as stocks including Palto Alto,
CrowdStrike
(CRWD) and
Zscaler
(ZS) have recently reacted sharply to any signs of a potential hit to business from macroeconomic uncertainty.
Analysts at Evercore noted that Palo Alto’s momentum in large deals was healthy, with the number of sales worth more than $20 million up 42% from the same period the prior year.
Evercore’s Peter Levine raised his target price on the stock to $295 from $240 previously and kept an Overweight rating on the stock.
Write to Adam Clark at [email protected]
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