Shares of cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) climbed 4% in morning trading Friday after Citigroup (NYSE:C) upgraded the company’s stock from “Neutral” to “Buy.” The target price was also raised from $147 to $160, representing an upside of over 20%.
Citi analyst Walter Pritchard said that Palo Alto Networks’ management team created positive turnaround efforts and has gotten ahead of negative revisions.
“We expect next wave of network security growth to come from platform consolidation where PANW is well-positioned,” Pritchard wrote in an analyst report.
Pritchard also believes that Palo Alto is in a better position compared to other cybersecurity firms. Palo Alto’s subscriptions attach are 50% ahead of Check Point Software (NYSE:C) , and Palo Alto’s annuity attach is 10% ahead of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) .
Palo Alto’s upgrade has also benefitted other cybersecurity firms. FireEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:FEYE) climbed 3% in morning trading today, while PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF (NYSE:C) rose 1% in reaction to Palo Alto’s gains.
Palo Alto (NYSE:PANW) remains a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Our consensus estimates show that there will be positive year-over-year earnings growth for the current year, and the company has a growth rating of “A.”
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