Stocks to buy

Palo Alto Networks Stock Looks Pricey but Is Really a Prime Deal

California-headquartered Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) specializes in providing best-in-class cybersecurity solutions. Some folks might balk at the idea of buying a $500 stock. However, PANW stock is actually a terrific value at its current price.

With the onset of Covid-19, more businesses brought their operations online. Consequently, there’s been a strong demand for reliable security for networks, including ones based in the cloud.

The Palo Alto share price has increased substantially during the past two years, but value seekers shouldn’t be deterred. Given Palo Alto Networks’ impressive revenue growth and expanded cloud-security product line, investors should prepare for much more upside.

PANW Palo Alto Networks $510.71

What’s Happening with PANW Stock?

Before any skeptics complain about the Palo Alto share price, let’s put things into perspective. Since PANW stock has been as high as $640.90 during the past 12 months, the current share price really isn’t outlandish.

Besides, this is a company that has earned its share price through demonstrated revenue growth. Specifically, Palo Alto Networks grew its revenue during 2022’s third-fiscal quarter by 29% year over year to $1.4 billion. Not only that, but the company increased its quarterly billings by 40% year over year to $1.8 billion.

In light of these outstanding results, it makes perfect sense that Palo Alto Networks raised its guidance for full fiscal year 2022. Thus, the company expects total revenue in the range of $5.481 billion to $5.501 billion, marking year-over-year growth of around 29%. Also for the full year, Palo Alto anticipates total billings in the range of $7.106 billion to $7.136 billion, up 30% to 31% compared to the previous year.

Reducing Complexity and Increasing Visibility

Here’s a startling statistic. A blog posting from Palo Alto Networks disclosed a study across 18,000 cloud accounts which found that “99% of the cloud users, roles, services and resources were granted excessive permissions, which were left unused.”

The point here is that there are holes in many businesses’ could security protection systems. These businesses could be vulnerable to identity theft and ransomware attacks.

To help address this problem, Palo Alto Network has added Out-of-Band Web Application and API (Application Programming Interface) Security to Prisma Cloud. With this addition, Prisma Cloud help discover over-privileged accounts and provide better threat protection.

Ankur Shah, senior vice president, Prisma Cloud, Palo Alto Networks, further explained the value of this addition. “As more organizations move workloads to the cloud, the capabilities that make up Prisma Cloud help provide the most complete protection, reducing complexity and increasing visibility across infrastructure, workloads, identities and applications,” Shah stated.

What You Can Do Now

Admittedly, some of the terminology in the world of cloud security is complex. However, you don’t have to be a cybersecurity aficionado to hold PANW stock with confidence.

The important thing is to be able to detect a good value when you see it. Palo Alto Networks shares have room to run higher as the company demonstrates financial growth.

Additionally, the company continues to provide top-of-the-line threat detection and prevention software. So, at the end of the day, an investment in Palo Alto Networks really isn’t pricey at all.

On the date of publication, neither Louis Navellier nor the InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article held (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.

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