Past success may buy you a little benefit of the doubt on Wall Street, but only just a little. While it’s hard to quibble with Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW)
track record as a disruptor and growth story in the security space,
that hasn’t helped the shares so much in recent months. While security
spending looks pretty healthy going into 2019 and the death of the
firewall (due in part to transitions toward cloud/hybrid-cloud
approaches) has been greatly exaggerated, Wall Street does seem
uncertain about the company’s pivot toward more cloud-oriented solutions
and a new executive leadership team whose career experience in the
security space isn’t as deep.
I don’t dismiss those
industry experience concerns out of hand, but I think Palo Alto has
brought on some talented executives that can help Palo Alto stay nimble
and evolve – doing what worked in the past as your end-markets change is
a pretty good way to get left behind in technology. Palo Alto looks
cheap enough now that I’m a little paranoid and wondering what I may be
missing; I get that the market has soured on tech stocks and that 2019
could be a more challenging year than 2018 was, but the shares seem to
be discounting a pretty weak scenario today.
Read more here:
Wall Street Seems Skeptical Of Palo Alto's Transition
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