Piper Jaffray analyst Andrew Nowinski says recent channel checks indicate Palo Alto Networks (PANW) should exceed the high end of its guidance by a magnitude similar to the last few quarters when reporting earnings tomorrow, September 9. Channel partners noted strength in North America, driven by increasing market gains from Check Point (CHKP) and others, Nowinski tells investors in a pre-earnings research note. He expects Palo Alto to guide Q1 above consensus and reiterates an Overweight rating on the stock with a $185 price target.

KeyBanc lowered the firm's price target on Palo Alto Networks to $355 from $380 on lower peer multiples, while keeping an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm says that at some point, the case for optimism needs to be backed up by some optimistic data, and its 1Q24 VAR Survey did not deliver it. IT budgets are still in hiding at this point, with just 50% of KeyBanc's respondents meeting or exceeding their goal in the Q1, the lowest quarterly reading since the heart of the pandemic, and sentiment from the follow-up calls with some individuals also has down ticked. The firm's Q4 2023 VAR survey was iffy, the outlook in 2024 from its CIO survey in January was also not great, its SMB survey was worse than expected, and now 2024 is off to a difficult start - "let's just call a trend a trend," KeyBanc adds.