markets

Luke Kawa8/19/25

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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J. Edward Moreno7/7/26

SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

US job growth falls far short of estimates in June; unemployment rate unexpectedly dips to 4.2%

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Meta surges on report it’s starting a cloud business to sell excess AI compute

The story of the hyperscalers in 2026 has largely been “the beatings will continue until the cash flow outlook improves;” this could help change the story for Meta. Or not.

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markets

Paige Oamek6/30/26

Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).
Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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