Palo Alto Analyst, Retail Investors Stay Upbeat Ahead Of Cybersecurity Play’s Q3 Print

Cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW) is scheduled to release its quarterly results after the market closes on Tuesday.

According to Finchat, analysts, on average, expect the Santa Clara, California-based company to report adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.77 on revenue of $2.28 billion for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2025.

The guidance issued in mid-February models adjusted EPS of $0.76-$0.77 and revenue of $2.26 billion-$2.29 billion. The company expected next-generation security (NGS) annualized recurring revenue (ARR) growth of 33%-34% and remaining performance obligations (RPO) of 19%-20%.

Wedbush’s Daniel Ives, who has a bullish rating on the Palo Alto stock, said he expects to see strong cybersecurity deal activity across enterprises as the company continues laying the foundation for its platformization approach.

The analyst said Palo Alto continues to be one of his favorite cybersecurity names to own over the next 12-18 months.

Ives’ channel checks revealed stronger deal flow over the past few months and therefore, he believes Palo Alto is generating solid momentum for cybersecurity customer deployments on its platform. 

The analyst also believes the company will primarily benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) spending.

Ives has a $225 price target for the Palo Alto stock.

Among peers, CyberArk (CYBR) reported forecast-beating quarterly results last week amid its transition to a subscription model.

Palo Alto’s 2025 guidance stands at $3.18-$3.24 in adjusted EPS and $9.14 billion-$9.19 billion in revenue.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward Palo Alto stock was ‘extremely bullish’ (75/100) by early Tuesday, and the message volume also stayed ‘high.’

A bullish watcher said Palo Alto’s earnings will likely be the catalyst that could send the whole cybersecurity industry higher.

Another user, who is also bullish, suggested they were “thinking about playing some calls tomorrow.”

Palo Alto stock was little changed at $194.82 in Tuesday’s early premarket session. The year-to-date gain is a modest 7%.

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