May
20, 2021
6 min read
This story originally appeared on StockMarket
Top Cybersecurity Stocks Worth Watching In The Stock Market Right Now
While the broader stock market combats a losing streak this week, investors may find the “what stocks to buy today?” question a puzzling one. On that note, cybersecurity stocks appear to be making headlines right now. Even with the current state of today’s stock market, they would remain a viable play for investors.
For the most part, there are two key factors to the cybersecurity bull thesis now. On one hand, some of them would be trading at more reasonable prices given the current sell-off in tech stocks. On the other hand, recent incidents in the field of cybersecurity are setting the industry ablaze now. Regarding the latter, the largest fuel line operator in the U.S., Colonial Pipeline, was hacked earlier this month. Because of the ransomware attack, the East Coast saw widespread fuel shortages. In order to remedy this, the company had to shell out a whopping $4.4 million ransom to remedy this. As a response, President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week, bolstering federal cybersecurity infrastructure. Seeing as Biden’s administration will turn to the top cybersecurity companies now, investors could be doing the same.
We could look at the likes of Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) and Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) for instance. Both companies’ shares are currently up by over 110% in the past year, in line with the rise in cyberattacks. Particularly, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince now believes that the world is seeing an “unparalleled amount of cybersecurity activity.” In theory, this could be a prime time for cybersecurity companies to step up to the plate. Having read all this, you might be looking to add some of the top cybersecurity stocks to your portfolio now. Should that be the case, here are three worth noting in the stock market today.
Top Cybersecurity Stocks To Watch In May
- CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD)
- Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR)
- Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW)
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.
CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity technology company that is based in California. It provides cloud workload and endpoint security. The company also provides cyber-attack response services and threat intelligence. Utilizing its Falcon platform, CrowdStrike has created the first multi-tenant, intelligent security solution. It is capable of protecting workloads across on-premise, virtualized, and cloud-based environments running on a variety of endpoints. CRWD stock currently trades at $202.93 of 11:41 a.m. ET and is up by over 140%.
Last week, the company was named a leader for the second time in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for endpoint protection platforms. The company is the only company to maintain its leader position and obtain the furthest position in Completeness of Vision in the EPP Magic Quadrant for the second consecutive time. This establishes CrowdStrike as an industry pioneer and changes the way organizations tackle security threats.
In March, the company reported a record fourth quarter and fiscal year 2021 financials. In it, CrowdStrike reports that its annual recurring revenue (ARR) surpassed the $1 billion milestone-driven by a record net new ARR of $143 million. The company also delivered record operating and free cash flow. Furthermore, the company saw its net new subscription customer grow by 70% year-over-year. CrowdStrike also mentions that it continues to gain incredible momentum with both marquee enterprises and small businesses as it expands its partner ecosystem. Given the exciting developments surrounding the company, will you consider buying CRWD stock?
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Palantir Technologies Inc.
Palantir is a software company that specializes in big data analytics and cybersecurity. Namely, the company’s Foundry platform represents a return to ‘security first’ principles. By creating a comprehensive and dynamic view of a network through Palantir Foundry, organizations can strengthen cybersecurity and monitor activity for more complex attacks. PLTR stock currently trades at $20.52 as of 11:41 a.m. ET and has more than doubled in the last year.
Last week, the company reported its first-quarter financials for 2021. In it, Palantir posted total revenue of $341 million, up by 49% year-over-year. U.S. commercial and government revenue grew by 72% and 83% respectively year-over-year. The company also provided an optimistic financial outlook for the second quarter. Firstly, Palantir expects revenue of $360 million, representing year-over-year revenue growth of 43%. Secondly, it also expects an adjusted operating margin of 23%.
Earlier in the month, the company also announced the renewal of its contracts with the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy for its Palantir Foundry platform. The company’s software is used by the navy across a broad spectrum of areas. This would include supply chain management and coronavirus response. What is impressive is that Palantir enables its users without programming expertise to access and engage with comprehensive data to make the most informed decisions. Furthermore, users are empowered to run complex models to test scenarios to make better and faster decisions. All things considered, will you add PLTR stock to your portfolio of top cybersecurity stocks?
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Palo Alto Networks Inc.
Another top cybersecurity company to know now would be Palo Alto Networks (PANW). Most seasoned investors would be familiar with this global leader in the digital security space now. For the uninitiated, PANW specializes in providing advanced firewalls and related cloud-based offerings. All of its core services are integrated into a single platform-as-a-service model. The likes of which are currently protecting tens of thousands of organizations across the cloud, networks, and mobile devices. With the company set to report earnings after today’s closing bell, could PANW stock be a buy right now?
Well, Raymond James (NYSE: RJF) analyst Adam Tindle appears to believe so. Earlier this week, Tindle massively upgraded PANW stock to an outperform rating with a price target of $400. This would mark a sizable 18% upside over its current value of $343.40 as of 11:42 a.m. ET. The analyst cites PANW securing larger clients and being able to “enter into a period of healthy growth and incremental profitability” as key factors of the upgrade.
On top of that, the company remains busy on the operational front as well. Yesterday, PANW introduced five major zero trust security-related additions to its network security portfolio. According to the company, these upgrades will make it easier for customers to adopt its Cloud Identity Engine overall. With the company kicking into high gear now, would you consider PANW stock a buy?