Why did CrowdStrike stock go up today? Palo Alto leads security stocks higher
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CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) shares rose more than 5% on Monday thanks in part to strong fourth-quarter results from Palo Alto Networks (PANW), which boosted a number of cybersecurity stocks.
For the period ending July 31, Palo Alto Networks (PANW) earned an adjusted $1.44 per share on $2B in revenue. Billings grew 18% to $3.2B for the period, slightly below the 18.6% estimate.
A consensus of analysts expected the company to earn $1.29 per share on $1.96B in revenue during the period.
The Nikesh Arora-led Palo Alto (PANW) said it expects 2024 billings to be between $10.9B and $11B, above the $10.77B estimate, with revenue between $8.15B and $8.2B, slightly below the $8.38B estimate.
Full-year adjusted earnings are forecast to be between $5.27 and $5.40 per share, above the $4.98 per share that analysts were expecting.
For the first-quarter, Palo Alto (PANW) expects billings between $2.05BB and $2.08B, with revenue between $1.82B and $1.85B, below the $1.93B estimate. Adjusted earnings are forecast to be between $1.15 and $1.17 per share, above the adjusted earnings estimate of $1.11 per share.
A number of Wall Street firms said the Friday night conference call may have caused some consternation last week, but that it did not matter.
"After much drama about a Friday afternoon release effectively putting the Street on edge in the cyber sector with the murky macro backdrop, Palo Alto printed a relatively strong quarter with a slight top-line miss and bottom-line beat as the company continues to leverage its next-gen portfolio driving further growth," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in an investor note.
Bank of America analyst Tal Liani said the guidance "calmed investor concerns" and the company is benefiting from the "successful migration from legacy hardware to software-based solutions and integration to a platform-based approach."
Other cybersecurity stocks also rose on Monday, including Check Point Software (CHKP), Zscaler (ZS) and Fortinet (FTNT).
SentinelOne (S) shares jumped more than 15% on reports that the company is in the process of selling itself.

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