June
18, 2021
6 min read
This story originally appeared on StockMarket
Why These Top Cybersecurity Stocks Could Pop In 2021
The bull thesis for some of the top cybersecurity stocks in the stock market today continues to grow. If anything, the world today is more exposed to cybercrimes than ever. As most would agree, this would likely see demand for cybersecurity services skyrocketing. Whether it is private organizations, federal bodies, or even critical infrastructure, nobody seems to be safe now. Over half a year since the devastating SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) hack of 2020, cyberattacks have only escalated more.
We only need to look at the barrage of major cybersecurity breaches this year to see this. The most prominent incidents would include ransomware attacks on the Colonial Pipeline company and JBS Foods. Colonial Pipeline operates the largest refined oil pipeline in the U.S. while JBS is the largest meat processing company in the world. Together, the ransom paid to hackers from both incidents totaled a whopping $15.4 million. More recently, even fast-food giant McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) reported data breaches in its South Korean and Taiwanese systems.
Not to mention, the issue of Russian state-sponsored cyberattacks on the U.S. remains an active one. According to former Obama defense official, Evelyn Farkas, these attacks are likely to persist. By and large, with constant updates regarding new cyberthreats in our world today, organizations and investors alike would be turning towards cybersecurity players now. Meanwhile, companies in the industry continue to expand and bolster their services as well. Take Check Point Software (NASDAQ: CHKP) for example. Earlier this week, the company significantly expanded its unified cloud security platform, making it the broadest workload security provider in the market. Pair all this with the current dips in tech and investors may find interesting opportunities in cybersecurity stocks now. Here are three trending in the stock market now.
Best Cybersecurity Stocks To Watch In June
BlackBerry Limited
BlackBerry is a cybersecurity company that provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company boasts to have secured more than 500 million endpoints including 175 million cars that are on the road today. It is based in Ontario, Canada, and leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety, and data privacy solutions. BB stock closed Thursday’s trading session at $13.51 a share.
Today, the company announced that Frost & Sullivan has presented BlackBerry AtHoc with the 2021 Technology Innovation Leadership Award for safe city solutions. Frost & Sullivan reports that BlackBerry AtHoc was chosen for its superior communication and collaboration capabilities, its ability to integrate with any endpoint, and its excellence in providing situational awareness and actionable intelligence. Most impressively, BlackBerry AtHoc can be used by any organization and operator across an entire city or broader geography. This would ultimately enable business continuity, keep people safe, and deliver a citywide response to critical events.
The company will report its first-quarter fiscal 2022 on June 24, 2021. In light of that, how has the company been doing financially? In the company’s latest quarter financials reported in March, BlackBerry reported a total company non-GAAP revenue of $215 million. During the quarter, it entered into an exclusive negotiation with a North American entity for the potential sale of part of the patent portfolio relating primarily to mobile devices, messaging, and wireless networking. Net cash generated from operating activities was $51 million. It also ended the year with $804 million in total cash, cash equivalents, and investments. All things considered, will you add BB stock to your watchlist?
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CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.
CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity technology company that provides cloud workload and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyber-attack response services. Boasting world-class intelligence, its products and software provide better protection by combining machine learning, artificial intelligence, behavioral analytics, and proactive threat hunting in a single solution. CRWD stock is currently trading at $241.31 as of Thursday’s closing bell.
In early June, the company reported impressive first-quarter financials. Firstly, total revenue for the quarter was $302.8 million, a 70% increase year-over-year. Subscription revenue made the bulk of this revenue at $281.2 million, a 73% increase compared to a year ago. The company also ended the quarter with $1.68 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Impressively, it also added 1,524 net new subscription customers in the quarter representing an 82% growth year-over-year.
During the quarter, the company was also recognized by Gartner Inc as a Leader for the second time and placed furthest for Completeness of Vision in the 2021 Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platform. It also announced Falcon Fusion, a unified and extensible framework purpose-built on the CrowdStrike Falcon platform to orchestrate and automate complex workflows. This would ultimately improve security operation center efficiency. Given how it has kicked off the new fiscal year with strong momentum and delivered an outstanding first quarter, the company believes that there will still be robust demand driven by secular trends such as digital and security transformation. With all this in mind, will you be watching CRWD stock?
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Palo Alto Networks Inc.
Topping off our list today is Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW). For the uninitiated, the California-based cybersecurity company is one of the major players in the industry now. In short, the company mainly operates via its proprietary digital security platform. The likes of which house its advanced firewall and cloud-based offerings. Through a combination of the two, PANW provides comprehensive coverage against breaches across cloud environments. As it stands, PANW stock is currently trading at $372.07 a share as of Thursday’s end of the trading day. Would investors be wise to jump on now?
Well, if anything, PANW appears to be aware of the shifting needs of its customers. Earlier this month, the company released several key updates to its Prisma Cloud service. In particular, these updates serve to minimize false network alerts, detect data breaches, and provide comprehensive coverage for customers. Simply put, all of this will serve to eliminate blind spots in existing systems while minimizing security team strain. As cyber threats continue to grow, PANW is clearly not sitting idly by.
On the financial front, the company appears to be gaining momentum as well. In its second-quarter fiscal posted last month, PANW beat Wall Street’s estimates in terms of earnings and revenue. For a sense of scale, the company raked in total revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter. CEO Nikesh Arora believes that this is mostly thanks to industry tailwinds incentivizing organizations to opt for its more premium services. Would all this make PANW stock a top watch for you now?
