Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Releases Q3 2026 Earnings Guidance

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) issued an update on its third quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 0.780-0.800 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 0.450. The company issued revenue guidance of $2.9 billion-$2.9 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.6 billion. Palo Alto Networks also updated its FY 2026 guidance to 3.650-3.700 EPS.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded down $3.45 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $163.50. 15,927,121 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,336,087. The firm has a market cap of $113.96 billion, a PE ratio of 103.48, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $192.28.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $220.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto beat top-line expectations with fiscal Q2 revenue of about $2.6B and Next?Generation Security ARR up ~33% to $6.3B, showing continued demand for its platform. PR: Q2 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management materially raised full?year revenue guidance to $11.28B–$11.31B (from ~$10.5B prior), signaling stronger-than-expected top-line prospects for FY26. WSJ: Revenue Outlook Lifted
• Positive Sentiment: Product and research pushes — MSIAM 2.0 launch and Unit 42 AI/incident report — reinforce the company’s AI/security positioning and help the platform narrative. PR: MSIAM 2.0
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain mixed but generally constructive: some firms keep Buy/outperform ratings while trimming targets as they digest valuation and execution risk. Channel checks cited by some brokers point to improving demand. InsiderMonkey: BTIG Checks
• Negative Sentiment: Management trimmed its annual profit forecast and issued fiscal Q3 profit guidance below Street expectations, explicitly citing rising costs from recent acquisitions to bolster AI capabilities — the guidance hit sentiment and sparked after?hours selling. Reuters: Profit Forecast Cut
• Negative Sentiment: The announced intent to acquire Koi (agentic endpoint security) increased investor concern about near-term integration and expense load; reports noted the stock reacted negatively to the deal news. PR: Koi Acquisition
• Negative Sentiment: Some brokers trimmed price targets (example: Mizuho lowered its target), reflecting concern about near-term profitability and valuation pressure on software names. The Fly: PT Lowered

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $80,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $111,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next?generation firewalls as a core on?premises capability, alongside cloud?delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.