UPDATE: BMO Capital Markets Initiates Palo Alto Networks at Market Perform on Market Share Dependence

BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) with a Market Perform rating and a $58.00 price target.

BMO Capital Markets commented, "During our diligence, we spent considerable time analyzing PANW's technology edge, separating fact from marketing hype. We conclude that PANW's edge is real and is rooted more in performance than in functionality breadth. However, we worry that overall enterprise firewall spending is slowing and that competition is likely to get even more intense in 2013. PANW shares trade at a discount to the high-growth software peer group, but in our view, this may be justified given PANW's dependency on share gains rather than overall market expansion as well as the risk associated with the Juniper lawsuit."

Palo Alto Networks closed at $57.60 on Monday.

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