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

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Palo Alto Networks (PANW - Free Report) closed at $244.63 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.53% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.66% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.03%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.46%.

Coming into today, shares of the security software maker had gained 1.31% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 5.08%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.97%.

PANW will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, PANW is projected to report earnings of $1.25 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 26.26%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $703.44 million, up 24.04% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.46 per share and revenue of $2.87 billion, which would represent changes of +36.84% and +26.12%, respectively, from the prior year.

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

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.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. PANW currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, PANW currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 45.03. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 44.89, which means PANW is trading at a premium to the group.

We can also see that PANW currently has a PEG ratio of 1.92. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Security stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.58 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Security industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 102, putting it in the top 40% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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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