Cybersecurity is a hot topic as the pace of attacks increases, costs rise, and opportunities for cybersecurity companies abound. The cybersecurity market is estimated to triple to $10.50 trillion by 2027, with most spending concentrated in a few companies. Leading providers such as Palo Alto Networks NASDAQ:PANVCrowdstrike NASDAQ: CRWDand Fortinet NASDAQ: FTNT will be among the winners and are attracting the attention of analysts today. This stock is one of the most beloved by analysts, ranking among the 15 most upgraded stocks for 2025 and the top 3 most upgraded stocks in its industry. Cyber threats are expected to intensify, and trends supporting their businesses and analyst sentiment will continue to drive stock prices higher.
Palo Alto Networks is a leading cybersecurity provider
Palo Alto Networks today
Palo Alto Networks
(As of 2:34 p.m. ET)
- 52 week range
- $130.04
▼
$207.24
- P/E ratio
- 23.45
- Target price
- $201.46
Palo Alto Networks is the largest cybersecurity provider in terms of market capitalization and revenue. The company is in the process of platforming, consolidating its products into a single, easier-to-use format and delivering results faster than expected. Neither revenue growth nor profits have been hit as hard as feared, and levers are growing, including more customers and deeper service penetration, to help support better-than-expected growth in 2025.
On the analyst side, Palo Alto Networks received 82 positive mentions for 2024, including updates and price target revisions. The 43 analysts tracked by MarketBeat unanimously rate the stock a Moderate Buy and forecast it will trade at a new high in 2025. The consensus target is aligned with the current high, but the revision trend is positive and leads to an upper range of nearly $240, which is 22% above the 2024 close.
Palo Alto’s valuation is concerning, but its growth prospects make up for it. The stock trades at 50 times next year’s earnings, but the compound annual growth rate for earnings is expected to remain at the average level for at least two years. The long-term outlook is for earnings growth to accelerate towards the end of this decade and maintain a higher pace into the next decade, pushing the valuation down to a more reasonable low range of 20x.
CrowdStrike’s centralized Falcon platform gives it an edge
Crowdstrike today
(As of 2:34 p.m. ET)
- 52 week range
- $200.81
▼
$398.33
- P/E ratio
- 677.86
- Target price
- $364.25
CrowdStrike is half the size of Palo Alto Network but is growing its business quickly. In F2025, the growth rate has consistently slowed year on year, but remains at a high rate of 30%. Growth is expected to continue in the 20% range in 2026. F2025 results also included outperformance driven by strong customer growth and service penetration. Customers can use CRWD’s cybersecurity modules in a plug-and-play manner, quickly scaling up core services as needed.
CrowdStrike’s strengths include its Falcon cloud platform, which has centralized its offerings from the start. Falcon is fast and easy to deploy, delivers superior performance, and has low impact to end devices. While it is not technically a zero trust service, its services follow the zero trust framework, making CrowdStrike an integral part of a complete enterprise-quality zero trust solution.
When it comes to analysts, MarketBeat tracks 43 analysts who have 82 positive reviews for the stock in 2024. CrowdStrike is ranked 8th overall and the 2nd most upgraded cybersecurity stock. Analysts rate it a Moderate Buy and expect it to trade in a range of $365 to $450 in 2025.
Fortinet’s zero trust offerings are easy to use and cost effective
Fortinet today
(As of 2:34 p.m. ET)
- 52 week range
- $54.57
▼
US$100.59
- P/E ratio
- 47.58
- Target price
- $93.71
Fortinet is one of the top five cybersecurity companies by market capitalization and revenue, with double-digit growth rates in F2024. The results were supported by growth in customer numbers and service penetration and were better than analysts’ forecasts. Growth is expected to gradually accelerate in 2025 and continue to deliver strong profitability. Fortinet’s strengths include its industry-leading profitability. It is the third largest cybersecurity stock in 2024.
Fortinet’s third-quarter 2024 GAAP performance and adjusted operating margin were more than double those of its peers, generating significant cash and free cash flow. At the end of the third quarter, balance sheet highlights included an increase in cash and an increase in current and total assets, partially offset by an increase in liabilities. The company has debt but has net cash, leverage is low and equity is growing. Shareholders’ equity, a measure of shareholder value, turned positive during the quarter and is expected to rise in 2025.
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