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Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Palo Alto Networks (PANW - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $151.78, moving +0.42% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.02%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.03%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 5.44%.

Coming into today, shares of the security software maker had gained 8.57% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 11.1%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.57%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Palo Alto Networks as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect Palo Alto Networks to post earnings of $0.78 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 34.48%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.65 billion, up 25.1% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.42 per share and revenue of $6.88 billion. These totals would mark changes of +35.71% and +25.12%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Palo Alto Networks should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.42% lower. Palo Alto Networks currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Palo Alto Networks's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 44.15. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 27.62.

Meanwhile, PANW's PEG ratio is currently 1.4. 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. PANW's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.13 as of yesterday's close.

The Security industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 162, putting it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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