Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.04 EPS

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $0.85 versus the $0.81 consensus estimate. Revenue also came in ahead at $3 billion, above the expected $2.94 billion.
• Shares fell despite the earnings beat, with PANW trading down $3.42 to $297.06 in mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock has recently approached its 52-week high of $302.95.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on the cybersecurity company, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at “Moderate Buy.” The average analyst price target is $238.23, while recent news highlighted optimism around its AI-security push and Portkey acquisition.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.04, FiscalAI reports. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW traded down $3.42 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $297.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,667,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,217,452. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $195.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 166.01, a PEG ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $302.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on PANW. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Berenberg Bank set a $290.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $300.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $238.23.

Trending Headlines about Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan and Robert W. Baird both raised their price targets on Palo Alto Networks to $300 and kept bullish ratings, signaling Wall Street expects more upside ahead for the cybersecurity leader. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks completed its acquisition of Portkey, an AI gateway provider, which should strengthen its Prisma AIRS platform and improve its AI-security offerings. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: New commentary highlighted Palo Alto Networks as a long-duration beneficiary of a structural shift in cybersecurity, with enterprises consolidating security tools onto integrated, AI-driven platforms. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush said AI is expanding the cybersecurity threat surface, which could benefit dominant platform players like Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike ahead of earnings. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also watching PANW’s upcoming earnings report closely, which could either reinforce or temper the current bullish sentiment. Article Title

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,037,002.95. The trade was a 21.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. This represents a 30.17% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 93,660 shares of company stock worth $21,346,475. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% in the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $900,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks NASDAQ: PANW is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company's product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.

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