Palo Alto Networks
PANW on Nasdaq. Palo Alto Networks sells cybersecurity products to businesses, organizations, and governments. Market value $332.7bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to July 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to July 2026.
We can't read total debt from the filing, so debt is left out.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
See Technology stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $1.24 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
Quality score: 68 of 100. Price score: 24 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$406.76 a share, 191% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $139.57 to $409.50.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Monday’s close (5 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $5.5bn | $6.9bn | $8.0bn | $9.2bn | $11.5bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | -3.4% | 5.6% | 8.5% | 13.5% | 6.1% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 17.51 | 1.14 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.31bn | 0.32bn | 0.67bn | 0.81bn | 0.82bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)4 of 8 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)No
- DebtUnknown
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 22.0% a year
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 165% more shares since 2022
The quarter to July 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $3.4 billion last quarter, up 34% on a year ago.
- A loss of $282 million, after a profit of $254 million a year ago.
- It keeps 6 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, down from 13 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $4.1 billion, up from $3.5 billion.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| October 2024 | $2.1bn |
| January 2025 | $2.3bn |
| April 2025 | $2.3bn |
| July 2025 | $2.5bn |
| October 2025 | $2.5bn |
| January 2026 | $2.6bn |
| April 2026 | $3.0bn |
| July 2026 | $3.4bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| October 2024 | $351m |
| January 2025 | $267m |
| April 2025 | $262m |
| July 2025 | $254m |
| October 2025 | $334m |
| January 2026 | $432m |
| April 2026 | -$177m |
| July 2026 | -$282m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- 19 November 2026
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 10 September 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 2 September 2026
Who owns it
5 long-term investors we follow own it, up from 4 last quarter. 2,903 funds in all.
- GAMCO InvestorsMario Gabelli
- Value
- $6m
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mairs & PowerAndy Adams | $205m | 1.9% | Added |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $29m | <0.1% | Added |
| GAMCO InvestorsMario Gabelli | $6m | <0.1% | |
| First Manhattan Co.First Manhattan partners | $3m | <0.1% | Added |
| Platinum Investment ManagementPlatinum team | $2m | 0.4% | New |
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$25.8bnAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$18.1bn
- State Street$12.6bnAdded
- Morgan Stanley$10.0bnCut
- Invesco$8.7bnAdded
- Bank of America$7.7bn
- JPMorgan Chase$7.2bnAdded
- FMR$6.8bnAdded
- Geode Capital Management$6.7bn
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$6.6bn
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
1 investor owns more than 5%.
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor7.4%Since 31 March 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 7.4% | 31 March 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $10m of shares on the open market. 8 sold $159m, $132m of it under preset trading plans.
- Golechha DipakEVP, Chief Financial OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 24 September 2026
- Shares
- 27,500
- Price
- $391.61
- Value
- $11m
- Bawa AparnaDirectorSold
- Date
- 24 September 2026
- Shares
- 260
- Price
- $392.69
- Value
- $102,098
- GOETZ JAMES JDirectorSold
- Date
- 17 September 2026
- Shares
- 20,000
- Price
- $376.68
- Value
- $8m
- Bawa AparnaDirectorSold
- Date
- 15 September 2026
- Shares
- 500
- Price
- $377.18
- Value
- $188,590
- Key John P.DirectorSold
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Shares
- 2,500
- Price
- $376.03
- Value
- $940,075
- Bawa AparnaDirectorSold
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Shares
- 1,000
- Price
- $373.61
- Value
- $373,605
- Paul Josh D.Chief Accounting OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 1 September 2026
- Shares
- 900
- Price
- $373.68
- Value
- $336,312
- Paul Josh D.Chief Accounting OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 25 August 2026
- Shares
- 900
- Price
- $353.77
- Value
- $318,393
- Thorning-Schmidt HelleDirectorSold
- Date
- 7 July 2026
- Shares
- 700
- Price
- $346.85
- Value
- $242,795
- Paul Josh D.Chief Accounting OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 1 July 2026
- Shares
- 900
- Price
- $345.00
- Value
- $310,500
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September 2026 | Golechha Dipak EVP, Chief Financial Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 27,500 | $391.61 | $11m |
| 24 September 2026 | Bawa Aparna Director | Sold | 260 | $392.69 | $102,098 |
| 17 September 2026 | GOETZ JAMES J Director | Sold | 20,000 | $376.68 | $8m |
| 15 September 2026 | Bawa Aparna Director | Sold | 500 | $377.18 | $188,590 |
| 14 September 2026 | Key John P. Director | Sold | 2,500 | $376.03 | $940,075 |
| 14 September 2026 | Bawa Aparna Director | Sold | 1,000 | $373.61 | $373,605 |
| 1 September 2026 | Paul Josh D. Chief Accounting Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 900 | $373.68 | $336,312 |
| 25 August 2026 | Paul Josh D. Chief Accounting Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 900 | $353.77 | $318,393 |
| 7 July 2026 | Thorning-Schmidt Helle Director | Sold | 700 | $346.85 | $242,795 |
| 1 July 2026 | Paul Josh D. Chief Accounting Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 900 | $345.00 | $310,500 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 10 Sep 2026, and no later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.