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Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Stock Moves -0.37%: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Palo Alto Networks (PANW - Free Report) closed at $397.51, marking a -0.37% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.47%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the security software maker had gained 5.42% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 3.99% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.38% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from PANW as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.44, down 2.7% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.17 billion, up 23.44% from the year-ago period.

PANW's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.99 per share and revenue of $4.21 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +22.75% and +23.46%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for PANW should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. PANW currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, PANW currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 66.59. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 51.51, which means PANW is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that PANW has a PEG ratio of 2.85. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Security industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.98 as of yesterday's close.

The Security industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 198, which puts it in the bottom 23% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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