Palo Alto Networks surges as J.P. Morgan upgrades after Q2 results, guidance
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Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) shares jumped on Wednesday after the cybersecurity company posted better-than-expected second-quarter results and guidance, prompting an upgrade from J.P. Morgan.
Analyst Sterling Auty raised his rating to neutral from underweight and raised his price target to $620 from $600, noting that Palo Alto "is one of the cybersecurity companies that is well positioned to compete for the cloud security opportunity." 
Auty highlighted next-generation security annual recurring revenue, three platform adoption and product release acceleration as positives, with next-gen ARR growing 70% year-over-year to $1.431 billion. In addition, customer adoption of all three platforms grew to 47% of existing customers, up from 38% in the year-ago period. 
"Over the years, PANW has done a good job producing operating leverage in generating cash flow margins," Auty wrote in a note to clients. "In fact, using EBITDA along with revenue growth, they are a Rule of 40 company and using FCF it is much higher."
Palo Alto Networks shares surged nearly 8% to $512.23 in premarket trading on Wednesday.
For the period ending January 31, 2022, Palo Alto earned an adjusted $1.74 per share on $1.3 billion. A consensus of Wall Street analysts was expecting Palo Alto Networks to earn $1.65 per share on $1.28 billion in sales.
Billings for the period rose 32% year-over-year to $1.6 billion, with remaining performance obligations growing 36% year-over-year to $6.3 billion.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who rates Palo Alto outperform with a $630 price target, also praised the company, stating the company "delivered a blow out" and its cloud strategy is "resonating increasingly well" for customers. Adding in elevated level of threats, the enterprise driven shift to the cloud and possible Russian cyber attacks, Palo Alto is likely to see a "parabolic growth cycle" in 2022, Ives added. 
"We believe this is a cloud cyber security re-rating story in motion and view Palo Alto's stock as having a strong upward trajectory despite overall market jitters over the next year as the Street starts to fully appreciate the cloud transformation playing out under the hood," Ives wrote in a note to clients.
On Tuesday, Palo Alto said third-quarter revenue would be between $1.345 billion and $1.365 billion, with billings coming in between $1.59 billion and $1.61 billion. It expects non-GAAP earnings to be between $1.65 and $1.68 per share.
For the full-year, Palo Alto Networks said revenue would be between $5.425 billion and $5.475 billion, with billings clocking in between $6.8 billion and $6.85 billion.
Palo Alto also said that adjusted earnings are expected to be between $7.23 per share and $7.30 per share, with adjusted free cash flow margin between 32% and 33%.