Palo Alto Shares Jump After Bullish Remarks from Analysts

Shares of Palo Alto Networks Inc. were on the rise this week as the cybersecurity vendor picked up a bullish rating from Wells Fargo analsyt Andrew Nowinski.

The company, which sells security appliances, subscriptions, and support to enterprises, government entities, and service providers, has been given an “overweight” rating by the analyst with a price target of $700. This price target represents potential upside of over 30%.

According to Nowinski, Palo Alto has “assembled the most comprehensive Zero Trust platform” and sees shares gains in Zero Trust driving top-line growth and operating and free cash flow margin expansion.

Jefferies analyst Brent Thill also raised the price target to $650 from $615 and kept a “buy” rating as he adjusted his targets across the app, infrastructure, and security software spaces. The price target implies a 23% upside.

Thill thinks multiples in the space will continue to compress in 2022 as 80% of software names will likely decelerate with “digital digestion” coming out of the pandemic.

This week Palo Alto Networks announced the appointment of Helmut Reisinger to the position of CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Latin America (LATAM).

According to the company’s press release, Reisinger is an internationally recognized business leader, as CEO of Orange Business Services, Reisinger led a global organization of 28,000 employees supporting the digital transformation of enterprise customers around the world. Before joining Orange Business Services in 2007, Reisinger held leadership positions across Europe at Avaya Inc, NextiraOne Germany and Alcatel Austria.

Reisinger will work closely with Palo Alto Networks’ President BJ Jenkins to drive the acceleration of the company’s global growth strategy, and will join CEO and Chairman Nikesh Arora’s management team.

“Helmut is a visionary executive who I’ve known as both a global business leader and close partner to our company,” said Arora. “Given the recent rapid growth of the worldwide cybersecurity market, we see significant opportunities to accelerate our international business. Working together with BJ, Helmut’s relentless focus on the customer and understanding of the international business ecosystem will help us drive our robust EMEA business to future growth, while developing our growing Latin American business.”

“I am excited to join Palo Alto Networks’ extraordinary leadership team at what is a critical time for the cybersecurity industry,” said Reisinger. “As a longtime partner, I’ve had the privilege of seeing firsthand how Palo Alto Networks’ continuous innovation is answering organizations’ cybersecurity needs with its unique end-to-end, cloud- and platform-based approach. As demand to protect corporate and essential data escalates amid a growing threat landscape, there’s no company better positioned to address these challenges around the globe.”

“Helmut brings a deep understanding of our markets in EMEA and beyond, coupled with a strong track record of supporting the global enterprise with business-critical cybersecurity solutions,” said Jenkins. “I look forward to working together to accelerate our go-to-market efforts around EMEA and LATAM.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.