Cybersecurity platform provider Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) will be announcing earnings results this Tuesday after market close. Here’s what you need to know.
Palo Alto Networks beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 0.5% last quarter, reporting revenues of $2.47 billion, up 15.7% year on year. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates but a significant miss of analysts’ billings estimates.
Is Palo Alto Networks a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Palo Alto Networks’s revenue to grow 14.4% year on year to $2.58 billion, in line with the 14.3% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.94 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Palo Alto Networks has a history of exceeding Wall Street’s expectations, beating revenue estimates every single time over the past two years by 0.8% on average.
Looking at Palo Alto Networks’s peers in the cybersecurity segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Varonis Systems delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 9.4%, beating analysts’ expectations by 3.1%, and Tenable reported revenues up 10.5%, topping estimates by 3.5%. Varonis Systems traded down 10.8% following the results while Tenable’s stock price was unchanged.
Read our full analysis of Varonis Systems’s results here and Tenable’s results here.
The outlook for 2025 remains clouded by potential trade policy changes and corporate tax discussions, which could impact business confidence and growth. While some of the cybersecurity stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 11.8% on average over the last month. Palo Alto Networks is down 9.5% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $224.42 (compared to the current share price of $166.77).
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