Stocks · Technology · Software - Infrastructure
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. PANW
$403.24 +1.76% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $328.64B
Strong trendExpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 18, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $0.44, down 72.5% year over year.
- Over the past year the stock returned +95.0%, ahead of the S&P 500 by 79.9 percentage points.
- The shares trade at 916.5× trailing earnings, higher than 93% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Technology sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 25%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 15%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 49%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 22%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 20%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 43%
- Gross marginTop 26%
- Operating marginTop 46%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 11%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 41%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 44%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 41%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 37%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 30%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 8%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 14%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 18%
- 6-month returnTop 5%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 15%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 3%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 18%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 43%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 27%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 39%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 15%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 44%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 8%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 50%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 44%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 19.5% | 24.5% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -34.3% | -72.5% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 73.4% | 70.4% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 13.5% | 6.1% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 40.3% | 38.2% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 24.5% | 19.5% | ↑ | Top 25% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -72.5% | -34.3% | ↓ | Bottom 15% |
| Gross margin | 70.4% | 73.4% | ↓ | Top 26% |
| Operating margin | 6.1% | 13.5% | ↓ | Top 46% |
| Net margin | 2.7% | 12.3% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 38.2% | 40.3% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 1.0% | — | Bottom 43% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 18.5% | — | Top 22% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -8.8%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 6.6%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -9.8 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -0.03×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.27%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.27%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +7.8%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +2.5%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jul 31, 2026 (filed Sep 10, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 7
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +6.4%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.7%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $398.70
- Target vs current price
- -1.1%
- Analysts with a rating
- 89
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 72%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | +4.3% | -5.2% | -11.8% | +1.6% | — |
| Jun 2, 2026 | +7.2% | -1.1% | -11.4% | +13.5% | +12.9% |
| Feb 17, 2026 | +9.7% | -2.1% | -13.7% | +0.3% | +29.1% |
| Nov 19, 2025 | +4.4% | -0.5% | -7.3% | -8.7% | -18.7% |
| Aug 18, 2025 | +7.3% | -0.5% | +5.0% | +13.7% | +22.3% |
| May 20, 2025 | +3.6% | +0.1% | -3.5% | +4.0% | -10.7% |
| Feb 13, 2025 | +4.0% | +2.6% | +1.1% | -10.4% | -5.0% |
| Nov 20, 2024 | -47.3% | +1.2% | +2.1% | -2.7% | +5.8% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | $1.02 | $0.98 | +4.3% | $3.41B |
| Jun 2, 2026 | $0.85 | $0.79 | +7.2% | $3.00B |
| Feb 17, 2026 | $1.03 | $0.94 | +9.7% | $2.59B |
| Nov 19, 2025 | $0.93 | $0.89 | +4.4% | $2.47B |
| Aug 18, 2025 | $0.95 | $0.89 | +7.3% | $2.54B |
| May 20, 2025 | $0.80 | $0.77 | +3.6% | $2.29B |
| Feb 13, 2025 | $0.81 | $0.78 | +4.0% | $2.26B |
| Nov 20, 2024 | $0.78 | $1.48 | -47.3% | $2.14B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 916.5× | 117.1× | 93th | Bottom 41% |
| P/E (forward) | 96.3× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 613.1× | — | — | Bottom 30% |
| EV / Sales | 28.63× | — | — | Bottom 8% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 1.33% | — | — | Bottom 37% |
| Earnings yield | 0.11% | — | — | Bottom 41% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 41.0× – 324.4× since Apr 30, 2023. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +95.0%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -72.5%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +135.4%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 15
- Days above the 200-day average
- 103
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +3.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +7.7%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +11.4%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +61.1%
- RSI (14)
- 62.6
- Relative volume
- 0.77×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 57.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 94th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.42
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.49
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- +0.0%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -36.0%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2025 | Feb 24, 2026 | -36.0% | 80 days | 55 days (May 13, 2026) |
| Apr 13, 2022 | Jan 10, 2023 | -36.0% | 186 days | 95 days (May 26, 2023) |
| Feb 9, 2024 | Feb 21, 2024 | -30.5% | 7 days | 168 days (Oct 21, 2024) |
| Feb 18, 2025 | Apr 7, 2025 | -26.8% | 34 days | 123 days (Oct 2, 2025) |
| Feb 19, 2021 | Mar 19, 2021 | -20.2% | 20 days | 84 days (Jul 20, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $328.64B
- P/E (TTM)
- 916.5
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $0.44
- Revenue (TTM)
- $11.48B
- 52-week range
- $139.57 – $409.50
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $5.50B | $6.89B | $8.03B | $9.22B | $11.48B |
| Gross profit | $3.78B | $4.98B | $5.97B | $6.77B | $8.08B |
| Operating income | -$188.8M | $387.3M | $683.9M | $1.24B | $695.0M |
| Net income | -$267.0M | $439.7M | $2.58B | $1.13B | $307.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.45 | $0.64 | $3.64 | $1.60 | $0.44 |
| Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.14B | $2.26B | $2.29B | $2.54B | $2.47B | $2.59B | $3.00B | $3.41B |
| Net income | $351.0M | $267.3M | $262.1M | $253.8M | $334.0M | $432.0M | -$177.0M | -$282.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.49 | $0.38 | $0.37 | $0.36 | $0.47 | $0.60 | -$0.28 | -$0.35 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $1.98B | $2.78B | $3.26B | $3.72B | $4.55B |
| Capital expenditure | -$192.8M | -$146.3M | -$156.8M | -$246.2M | -$440.0M |
| Free cash flow | $1.79B | $2.63B | $3.10B | $3.47B | $4.11B |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$892.3M | -$272.7M | -$566.7M | $370.5M | -$735.0M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $3.07B
- Total assets
- $48.46B
- Total liabilities
- $20.97B
- Total debt
- $2.50B
- Net debt
- -$14.0M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $27.49B
As of Jul 31, 2026 (filed Sep 10, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 21,871,670
- Days to cover
- 3.02
- Change vs previous report
- +2.1%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Dec 16, 2024
- 2-for-1
- Sep 14, 2022
- 3-for-1