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Luke Kawa

Palo Alto Networks surges after posting better sales, earnings, and guidance than Wall Street anticipated

Palo Alto Networks is soaring after posting top- and bottom-line beats in the fourth quarter along with a bright outlook for its current fiscal year.

For the three months ended July 31, the seller of AI-enabled cybersecurity offerings generated revenues of $2.54 billion (ahead of estimates for $2.5 billion) with adjusted earnings per share of $0.95, 6 cents above Wall Street’s call.

Palo Alto Networks is basking in sell-side love after these results. Bank of America upgraded the shares to “buy,” while Truist hiked its price target to $220 from $205 and Rosenblatt upped its price target to $225 from $215.

Shares were up 6.6% in premarket trading.

The company provided Q1 and full-year 2026 guidance for sales that were modestly ahead of expectations, while the adjusted EPS outlook for both those periods more meaningfully exceeded what analysts had projected. This guidance does not include any impacts from its recently announced acquisition of CyberArk, which CEO Nikesh Arora touted as a way to offer “the most complete integrated security solution in the market” during a conference call with analysts.

“We continue to view this deal as a strategic home run by PANW as it continues its hunt to build an all-in-one solution for enterprises by adding a golden asset in CYBR who is the premier player in identity/privileged access management security,” wrote Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who included the stock in his “AI 30” list of favorites and has a $225 price target. “Cybersecurity is a clear 2nd/3rd derivative play in the AI Revolution leading to PANW ultimately emerging in the driver’s seat to gain market/mind share with last night’s strong quarter and outlook a key step forward for Nikesh & Co.”

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Matt Phillips

Nuke stocks up as Venezuela intervention boosts political uncertainty

Shares tied to nuclear fuel and experimental forms of nuclear energy surged Monday, on little to no company specific news with a broader backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty in the wake of President Trump's intervention in Venezuela likely driving the gains.

Nuscale, Oklo and Nano Nuclear — all makers of unproven, not-yet-fully approved smaller nuclear reactors (SMRs) that the industry is pushing as the next generation of atomic power — jumped double digits.

Nuclear fuel companies like Lightbridge, Critical Metals Centrus Energy and Energy Fuels also posted solid gains.

With little company-specific news on the stocks in question, it’s tough to conclusively explain the move, but President Trump’s intervention in Venezuela is likely playing a role.

The imprisonment of Maduro could disrupt the deal the US has struck with China — a key Venezuelan ally — on access to rare earth metals, including uranium, making supplies tighter and prices higher. Prices of some rare earths in China, such as lithium, rose sharply on Monday.

Rising prices or tightening supplies of nuclear fuel could boost the potential value of new, more efficient forms of nuclear power, such as SMRs, and nuclear fuel suppliers like Centrus. It may also increase the chances that the US takes further direct stakes in American producers of sensitive metals, such as Energy Fuels, a Colorado based miner of uranium and other metals, as it did over the summer.

And of all this comes against the backdrop of growing electricity demand related to AI, which that was already expected to boost uranium prices and nuclear power usage in the coming years.

Max Knoblauch

Airlines climb as market prices in medium-term oil supply relief amid US-Venezuela tensions

US airlines are climbing on Monday, despite higher oil prices amid escalating US-Venezuela tensions following the US’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

The price action follows a weekend of disrupted travel for airlines, as the FAA ordered carriers to avoid large swaths of Caribbean airspace following US strikes. The agency’s restrictions expired on Sunday.

Delta Air Lines, which reached an all-time high on Monday, said it had "proactively added more than 2,600 seats through extra flights across its Caribbean network for Monday, Jan. 5." The carrier expects flights to the region to normalize by Tuesday. American Airlines said it’s added about 7,000 extra seats to temporarily boost its capacity.

While crude futures rose on the US-Venezuela tensions (West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 1.7% Monday afternoon), the market appears to be pricing in some medium-term relief due to the possibility of Venezuela’s reserves getting more developed. US oil companies are similarly rising in Monday trading.

markets
Matt Phillips

Duolingo jumps following BofA upgrade

Duolingo shares are down over 60% since hitting their peak last May, as slowing quarterly growth in key metrics like daily active users prompted analysts to sharply cut their long-term estimates for the company’s growth potential.

“We disagree,” Bank of America analysts wrote in a note Monday upgrading the stock to “buy” — from “neutral” — and slapping a $250 target on the stock.

They elaborated:

“Why? Because Duolingo’s value proposition extends beyond education into entertainment — a market investors have largely ignored. With gamified mechanics that rival top casual games and a growing portfolio of fun-first courses like Chess and Music, Duolingo taps into the large audience of mobile users seeking engaging ways to fill idle time. This dual positioning creates a long growth runway.”

In other words, they think addictiveness of the app has more in common with games like Roblox or the various iterations of Microsoft’s “Candy Crush” saga than the market currently understands. And that means that Duolingo can, perhaps, sustain higher long-term growth than investors seem to grok. In short, they argue that Duolingo deserves a more game-like valuation, which it will get as it surprises on growth in the coming years.

“We note that Duolingo’s financial forecast is similar to Roblox, but its multiple is significantly lower, despite its high mix of annual subscription customers,” they said.

Bank of America’s target for the shares is 30% higher than where the stock was trading Monday morning, despite the fact that Duolingo shares were having their best day in about three months. But even if it were to hit $250, the stock will still be more than 50% below its record closing high of $540.68 set last year on May 14.

“Why? Because Duolingo’s value proposition extends beyond education into entertainment — a market investors have largely ignored. With gamified mechanics that rival top casual games and a growing portfolio of fun-first courses like Chess and Music, Duolingo taps into the large audience of mobile users seeking engaging ways to fill idle time. This dual positioning creates a long growth runway.”

In other words, they think addictiveness of the app has more in common with games like Roblox or the various iterations of Microsoft’s “Candy Crush” saga than the market currently understands. And that means that Duolingo can, perhaps, sustain higher long-term growth than investors seem to grok. In short, they argue that Duolingo deserves a more game-like valuation, which it will get as it surprises on growth in the coming years.

“We note that Duolingo’s financial forecast is similar to Roblox, but its multiple is significantly lower, despite its high mix of annual subscription customers,” they said.

Bank of America’s target for the shares is 30% higher than where the stock was trading Monday morning, despite the fact that Duolingo shares were having their best day in about three months. But even if it were to hit $250, the stock will still be more than 50% below its record closing high of $540.68 set last year on May 14.

markets
Matt Phillips

Intel rises in early trading after upgrade

Melius Research gave Intel a lift in early trading with an upgrade to “buy” from “hold,” based partly on optimism that the partially nationalized American chipmaker will find a corporate partner to use its next-generation chip-making process, which is known as 14A.

According to the Fly on the Wall, Melius analysts see a “good chance” that Nvidia and Apple kick the tires on the new technology by 2028-29.

Melius’ new $50 price target for the stock implies a gain of roughly 20% from current levels.

Intel is coming off an astounding year. Why this analyst sees more gains ahead

Intel is coming off an astounding year. Why this analyst sees more gains ahead

Melius’ new $50 price target for the stock implies a gain of roughly 20% from current levels.

markets
Max Knoblauch

Comcast sinks as it completes the spin-off of most of its cable channels

Shares of cable juggernaut and Peacock parent Comcast sank more than 6% in premarket trading on Monday.

Driving the move was the completion of a separation of most of its cable channels into a separate entity trading as Versant Media.

The spin-off, which you can blame for the MSNBC to MS NOW rebrand (and any resulting logos), was first announced in late 2024. Comcast’s cable channels, including USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, and E!, have all moved under the Versant umbrella, along with digital brands like Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango. Comcast will retain NBC, Peacock, and Universal under the new structure.

Comcast isn’t the only cable giant trying to separate itself from cable. The media bidding war target of the moment, Warner Bros. Discovery, announced last year that it would perform a similar split.

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