Nomura Securities Raises Price Target on Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Following 4Q15
Nomura Securities reiterates a Buy rating on Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW), and raised the price target to $195.00 (from $185.00), following the company's 4Q15 earnings results.
Analyst Frederick Grieb commented, "Wednesday, after the close, Palo Alto announced F4Q’15 results, with billings growth of 69% yoy. The billings result of $393.6mn was ahead of Street estimates by 16.5% and well ahead of our estimates; thus, we have raised our FY16 revenue estimates on these billings numbers. In addition, the company guided F1Q’16 revenues to $280-284mn, about 5% above the consensus estimate of $269.1mn, at the midpoint (this guide is likely conservative, as the high end of one quarter forward guidance has been beaten by about 7% on average, over the last four quarters). Finally, Palo Alto reiterated its guidance for investors to be looking for a low-teens operating margin in F1Q’16 and a 22-25% operating margin exiting F4Q’16. We view these as a strong set of results and we continue to expect strong growth and operating margin expansion from Palo Alto."
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Shares of Palo Alto Networks closed at $165.17 yesterday.