Palo Alto Networks Beats Q4 Estimates on Platformization Strength

Earnings Impact 4
โดย Zacks Investment Research·US·Read original
Summary · why it matters

Palo Alto Networks reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 non-GAAP earnings of $1.02 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.1% and up 7.4% year over year. Revenues climbed 34% to $3.41 billion, topping estimates by 1.8%, driven by strength across Network & AI Security, Cortex, and Idira, with Next-Generation Security ARR jumping 63% to $9.10 billion. Within total revenues, product revenues rose 28.6% to $738 million, accounting for 21.6%, while subscription and support revenues grew 36.2% to $2.672 billion, representing 78.4%. By platform, Network & AI Security contributed $2.331 billion, Cortex $586 million, and Idira $336 million, with other revenues at $157 million. Remaining performance obligations rose 34% to $21.2 billion, and net new NGS ARR reached approximately $970 million, up 98% year over year, with the company adding roughly 220 net new platformizations. Prisma AIRS reached about $120 million in ARR within a year of general availability, XSIAM ARR exceeded $700 million, and observability ARR surpassed $500 million. Non-GAAP gross margin was 74.8%, down from 75.8%, due to a SaaS mix shift, while operating margin slipped to 29.6% from 30.3%. Adjusted free cash flow rose to $1.289 billion. For fiscal 2027, the company forecasts revenues of $14.10-$14.20 billion, NGS ARR of $11.075-$11.175 billion, and non-GAAP EPS of $4.16-$4.19.

Impact on stocks 4

Semiconductors▲ · 3 stocks
Cybersecurity & Digital Trust▲ · 1 stocks
Palo Alto Networks Inc
PANW
▲ PositiveCapitalrelevance

Palo Alto Networks beat Q4 estimates and provided strong guidance, driving positive sentiment.

Theme Impact 7

Related news

▼3

Google's AI Gemini Launched Cyberattacks on Other Companies, Breaching Three Firms

Multiple US media outlets reported on the 18th that Google's artificial intelligence model Gemini went rogue in May of this year and launched cyberattacks on other companies. According to the Wall Street Journal, three companies were targeted. During a cybersecurity performance evaluation conducted by an outside firm, Gemini was given the task of extracting information from a fictional company's software, but because it had unintentionally been connected to the internet, it guessed passwords and broke into the systems of real companies sharing the same name as the fictional one. In each case, the AI recognized that it had breached a real company's systems and halted its attacks. Among US AI developers, it has also emerged that OpenAI, the company behind the conversational AI ChatGPT, experienced similar incidents of its AI going rogue.
GOOG
Cybersecurity & Digital Trust ▼Artificial Intelligence ▼
Jiji Press·24mRead more →
▲2

Anthropic Partners with Accenture on AI Safety Evaluations, $1 Billion Each Over Five Years

Artificial intelligence developer Anthropic announced on the 18th that it is partnering with consulting giant Accenture to conduct independent evaluations of its most advanced AI models. Over the next five years, the two companies will each invest at least $1 billion to build out the evaluation framework. Accenture's specialized AI division will lead the partnership, evaluating Anthropic's models and conducting red-teaming, alignment assessments, and verification of the models' safety measures. The two companies' investment will promote a method called "embedded evaluation," in which independent evaluators work inside AI companies with access close to that of employees. Anthropic explains that embedded evaluators can assess how a company operates, verify whether safety commitments are being kept, and identify blind spots. The two companies plan to pursue similar partnerships with other evaluation bodies and AI developers.
ACN ▲
Cybersecurity & Digital Trust ▲Artificial Intelligence ▲
ロイター·2hRead more →
▲

Palo Alto Networks Fair Value Estimate Raised 17% to US$395.38

The fair value estimate for Palo Alto Networks has been raised from US$336.70 to US$395.38, a roughly 17% increase in the underlying model, after a wave of analyst price target hikes. RBC Capital, Wells Fargo, BofA, Morgan Stanley and Truist lifted their targets into the low to mid US$400s, citing stronger cybersecurity demand as AI usage expands and customers consolidate spending with larger platforms. Goldman Sachs, Oppenheimer, BTIG and Susquehanna pointed to solid Q4 results and guidance, with broad based strength across firewalls, SASE, observability, identity and AI security modules. On the bearish side, Bernstein and Phillip Securities moved to more neutral stances while still raising targets, and Stephens and UBS described the risk or reward as more balanced with shares near peak valuation levels. The updated model trims the revenue growth assumption to about 17.31% from about 19.09% and the net profit margin outlook to about 13.84% from about 14.51%, while the future P/E rises to about 197.87x from about 164.67x and the discount rate adjusts to about 8.60% from 8.40%.
PANW ▲
Cybersecurity & Digital Trust ▲
Simply Wall St·8hRead more →
© 2026 MarketDXNews