Baird analyst Jonathan Ruykhaver surveyed Palo Alto Networks partners and said the feedback suggests a solid setup for 2019. The analyst said the recent pullback has given investors an attractive opportunity to buy the shares ahead of its Q1 earnings later this month. He also said the company's broad-based portfolio positions it for a long-term opportunity to drive share gains. Rukhaver reiterated his Outperform rating and $250 price target on Palo Alto Network shares.

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.