Palo Alto Networks surges after strong quarter, projects annual sales above $10 billion
Nir Zuk’s retirement coincides with record results and optimistic forecasts.
Palo Alto Networks closed one chapter and opened another on Monday, pairing the surprise retirement of founder Nir Zuk with quarterly earnings that topped Wall Street forecasts and sent its shares up more than 6% in late trading. The cybersecurity giant reported double-digit growth and predicted that revenue will surpass $10 billion for the first time in its history, even before factoring in its pending acquisition of CyberArk.
Revenue for the quarter rose 16% to $2.5 billion. Net income reached $673 million, or 95 cents per share, compared with $522 million in the same period a year earlier.
The results exceeded analysts’ forecasts, and Palo Alto also issued an upbeat outlook for the current quarter and for fiscal 2026, which has just begun. The company closed fiscal 2025 with annual revenue growth of 15%, reaching $9.2 billion.
Looking ahead, Palo Alto expects to maintain that pace of expansion, surpassing $10 billion in annual revenue for the first time in its history. For fiscal 2026, the company projects revenue of about $10.5 billion, excluding contributions from CyberArk, whose acquisition has not yet been completed. Once integrated, CyberArk is expected to add more than $1 billion in annual revenue.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2026, Palo Alto forecasts revenue in line with the recent quarter at $2.5 billion, with slightly lower earnings of 88 to 90 cents per share.
