Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Palo Alto Networks (PANW) closed at $226.64, marking a -1.42% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.18%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.24%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.03%.
Coming into today, shares of the security software maker had gained 13.25% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 5.62%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.28%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from PANW as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 26, 2019. In that report, analysts expect PANW to post earnings of $1.22 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 41.86%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $682.76 million, up 25.88% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.19 per share and revenue of $2.83 billion. These totals would mark changes of +30.08% and +24.51%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for PANW should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. PANW is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note PANW's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 44.26. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 44.56, so we one might conclude that PANW is trading at a discount comparatively.
We can also see that PANW currently has a PEG ratio of 1.89. 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. The Security was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.42 at yesterday's closing price.
The Security industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 13, which puts it in the top 6% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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