Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.09 EPS

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09, FiscalAI reports. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks updated its FY 2026 guidance to 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance to 0.780-0.800 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Palo Alto Networks’ conference call:

• Company reported strong operating performance with NGS ARR up 33% to $6.33B (organic +28%), revenue $2.59B, and a 30.3% non?GAAP operating margin, plus robust free cash flow (TTM $3.75B), all above expectations.
• Palo Alto emphasized platform momentum — SASE surpassed $1.5B ARR (~40% growth), XIM exceeded $500M ARR, and Prisma AIRS reached 100+ customers — and introduced AgentiX and planned Koi integration to secure agentic endpoints.
• Management closed two large strategic acquisitions — Chronosphere (~$200M ARR) and CyberArk (~$1.2B ARR) — positioning the company to expand observability and identity security and backing guidance that includes meaningful M&A contributions.
• Acquisitions and financing will have material near-term cash impact (?$4.9B combined outlay, 112M shares issued, and assumed CyberArk note repurchase obligations), creating integration and balance?sheet execution risk that could pressure the stock if disruptions occur.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $3.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $163.50. The stock had a trading volume of 15,927,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,336,087. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $181.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.28. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $113.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citizens Jmp increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Northland Securities raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. 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 MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.08.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $76,000. Finally, Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $111,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

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.