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Luke Kawa2/11/25

Wedbush boosts Palo Alto Networks price target on “beatable” earnings and increased momentum in the field

Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives is bumping up his price target on Palo Alto Networks ahead of the release of the cybersecurity company’s quarterly report later this week.

He now sees the stock running to $225 (prior: $200), believing the company “is seeing increased momentum in the field around its cyber security platformization strategy.”

Palo Alto Networks is scheduled to release its quarterly results on Thursday after the close, with analysts anticipating adjusted earnings of $0.82 per share on sales of about $2.24 billion.

“While not expecting major fireworks with [the upcoming] FY2Q25 earnings, the seeds of growth are now in place for a very important 2H25 with the cyber threat landscape seeing elevated activity and sophistication,” he wrote, adding that the company’s guidance as well as consensus estimates “remain beatable.”

Ives’ optimistic stance on the company is shared by most of his peers. A few weeks ago, Morgan Stanley boosted its price target for the stock as well. 70% of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg (including Ives!) have a buy rating on the company, with an average price target of $207.25. The stock closed at $196.40 on Monday.

“We believe cyber security is a 3rd derivative of the AI Revolution and PANW is well positioned to see incremental deal flow as more strategic enterprise AI projects take hold over the coming year,” the analyst wrote.

Palo Alto was among the group of stocks that got a bump even amid the DeepSeek-induced sell-off on January 27 after the Chinese AI developer claimed it was besieged by cyberattacks.

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Toby Bochan, Luke Kawa

Markets end first week of November on a mixed note

While November is historically the best month for US stocks, the first week of the month in 2025 wasn’t great.

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BEAR NECESSITIES

The insanity over the Starbucks “Bearista” cups tells you everything you need to know about the US economy and markets

Upper-income consumers and megacap tech companies are both a) doing well and b) supply constrained.

Bear Roar

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Retail traders are “skipping the dip” this time

Here’s one noteworthy feature of the recent market downturn that has the S&P 500 poised for its worst week since reciprocal tariffs were announced in early April: retail traders seemingly aren’t eager to buy the weakness in single stocks the way they used to be.

JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain has flagged that retail traders instead appear to be “skipping the dip.”

“In contrast to the behavior observed during the post-Liberation Day selloff, retail investors did not seize the opportunity to buy-the-dip on Tuesday, with a few exceptions such as META,” he wrote of the day where the benchmark US stock index fell 1.2%. “In fact, they scaled back their ETF purchases and turned net sellers in single stocks.”

Then on Thursday, when the S&P 500 fell 1.1%, Jain projected that retail traders sold $261 million in single stocks. Through noon ET on Friday, his daily outflow estimate stands at $851 million.

With that intel, it’s little wonder why the carnage this week has been particularly intense in more speculative single stocks that had been favored by the retail community, including IREN, IonQ, Rigetti, Cipher Mining, Bloom Energy, and Oklo.

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Archer Aviation plunges on $650 million share sale following its third-quarter results

Air taxi maker Archer Aviation is deep in the red on Friday morning after reporting its third-quarter results after the bell Thursday. The stock is down more than 12%.

Investors don’t appear to be thrilled about the company’s $650 million direct stock offering, announced alongside its results.

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

Archer Aviation sinks after reporting better-than-expected Q3 loss, announces it will acquire LA’s Hawthorne Airport

Archer Aviation sinks after reporting better-than-expected Q3 loss, announces it will acquire LA’s Hawthorne Airport

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

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