Wedbush's Dan Ives has upgraded his price target for Palo Alto Networks
What Happened: Ives expressed his upbeat outlook for Palo Alto Networks on X, formerly Twitter, stating that the price target has been raised to $425. His optimism stems from solid field checks in the cybersecurity landscape and an increase in cloud deal momentum leading into 2024.
"The golden age of cybersecurity is on the doorstep with PANW front and center," Ives posted on Friday.
In their investor note, Ives and the team expressed that the company's performance in the upcoming January quarter is expected to be robust, with an anticipated upside across the board. This is largely due to the increasing cloud deal activity and a strong position within the federal vertical.
The recent SEC guidelines are also seen as a potential game-changer for PANW and its peers in the cybersecurity sector. The company is expected to benefit significantly from the guidelines in 2024.
Wedbush Securities has a $425 price target for PANW, based on a long-term free cash flow (FCF) multiple of 35x, which they believe is fair given the company's unique combination of 15%+ top-line growth over the medium term and 30%+ FCF margins.
"We believe there is a $200 billion dollar growth opportunity in cloud security alone 'up for grabs' over the next few years for those vendors such as PANW that have the solution sets to protect critical cloud deployments from growing threats/attacks," the analysts noted.
Despite concerns about PANW's valuation and recent rise, Wedbush analysts believe that the cloud penetration piece of the story is just beginning and will result in a major growth tailwind
The raised price target comes at a time when Palo Alto Networks is facing challenges, including a $151.5 million verdict in a patent lawsuit. Despite these challenges, the company's stock has been edging higher. Ives' price target suggests a belief in the company's resilience and future potential.
PANW Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, Palo Alto shares closed 0.39% lower at $366.88 on Thursday. The stock gained 0.21% during after-market hours trading.
