Palo Alto Is Not Too Far Away From Once Again Firing On All Cylinders

Palo Alto Networks IncPANWfiscal third-quarter earnings report impressed investors and some of Wall Street's top analysts. BTIG's Joel Fishbein maintains a Buy rating on Palo Alto's stock with an unchanged price target as Wednesday's earnings report showed the company is "back on the road to redemption after a few rocky quarters."

Q3 In Review

Palo Alto's product revenues grew 1 percent year over year, which was much better than the 8-percent decline Fishbein expected. The earnings report also contained many encouraging customer metrics, including the addition of 2,000 clients in the quarter, of which 40 are a Global 2000 entity.

Despite many encouraging aspects of the report, Palo Alto isn't "quite in the clear just yet" as the stock is still a "show me" story, the analyst cautioned.

"We'll take a couple more quarters like this as the company irons out the kinks of its go-to-market strategy, and look to FY18 for signs that Palo Alto is not too far away from once again firing on all cylinders," Fishbein wrote.

Bottom line, the company did meet expectations, which represents a positive step moving forward. But at the end of the day continued execution beyond one quarter is "by no means a given."

In Thursday's pre-market session, shares of Palo Alto were up 12.15 percent at $133.

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