Cybersecurity provider Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow after the bell. Here's what to look for.
Last quarter Palo Alto Networks reported revenues of $1.38 billion, up 29.1% year on year, beating analyst revenue expectations by 2.03%. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a strong top line growth but a decline in gross margin.
Is Palo Alto Networks buy or sell heading into the earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free.
This quarter analysts are expecting Palo Alto Networks's revenue to grow 26.6% year on year to $1.54 billion, in line with the 28.2% year-over-year increase in revenue the company had recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.28 per share.
Majority of analysts covering the company have reconfirmed their estimates over the last thirty days, suggesting they are expecting the business to stay the course heading into the earnings. The company has a history of exceeding Wall St's expectations, beating revenue estimates every single time over the past two years on average by 2.8%.
Looking at Palo Alto Networks's peers in the cybersecurity segment, some of them have already reported Q4 earnings results, giving us a hint of what we can expect. Qualys delivered top-line growth of 20.2% year on year, beating analyst estimates by 2% and Rapid7 reported revenues up 32.4% year on year, exceeding estimates by 2.03%. Qualys traded up 3.14% on the results, Rapid7 was down 3%. Read our full analysis of Qualys's results here and Rapid7's results here.
Investors in the software segment have had steady hands going into the earnings, with the stocks up on average 0.69% over the last month. Palo Alto Networks is up 0.17% during the same time, and is heading into the earnings with analyst price target of $629.1, compared to share price of $512.1.
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The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.