How to buy Palo Alto Networks stock | 246.36

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a software—infrastructure business based in the US. Palo Alto Networks shares (PANW) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Palo Alto Networks employs 8,014 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$3.4 billion.

How to buy shares in Palo Alto Networks

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Palo Alto Networks. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: PANW. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Palo Alto Networks reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$246.36, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Palo Alto Networks, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Palo Alto Networks. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted Palo Alto Networks's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Palo Alto Networks's share price has had significant positive movement.

Its last market close was USD$246.36, which is 1.36% up on its pre-crash value of USD$243 and 96.35% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$125.47.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of Palo Alto Networks shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$619.72 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$1,044.57.

Palo Alto Networks share price

Use our graph to track the performance of PANW stocks over time.

Palo Alto Networks shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-20.

Latest market close	USD$246.36
52-week range	USD$125.47 - USD$275.03
50-day moving average	USD$246.3309
200-day moving average	USD$233.415
Wall St. target price	USD$293.26
PE ratio	N/A
Dividend yield	N/A (0%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$-0.867

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Is it a good time to buy Palo Alto Networks stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Palo Alto Networks, Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Palo Alto Networks price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $246.36 from 2020-10-16

1 week (2020-10-22)	3.69%
1 month (2020-09-29)	-0.05%
3 months (2020-07-29)	-0.88%
6 months (2020-04-29)	24.61%

1 year (2019-10-29)	9.69%
2 years (2018-10-29)	37.64%
3 years (2017-10-27)	67.98%
5 years (2015-10-29)	56.02%

Is Palo Alto Networks under- or over-valued?

Valuing Palo Alto Networks stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Palo Alto Networks's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Palo Alto Networks's PEG ratio

Palo Alto Networks's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.1666. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Palo Alto Networks's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Palo Alto Networks's EBITDA

Palo Alto Networks's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$1.8 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Palo Alto Networks's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Palo Alto Networks financials

Revenue TTM	USD$3.4 billion
Gross profit TTM	USD$2.4 billion
Return on assets TTM	-1.38%
Return on equity TTM	-19.87%
Profit margin	-7.83%
Book value	$11.441
Market capitalisation	USD$23.5 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Palo Alto Networks shares

There are currently 4.3 million Palo Alto Networks shares held short by investors – that's known as Palo Alto Networks's "short interest". This figure is 6.5% up from 4.1 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Palo Alto Networks shares can be evaluated.

Palo Alto Networks's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Palo Alto Networks's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Palo Alto Networks shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Palo Alto Networks shares traded daily (recently around 1.3 million). Palo Alto Networks's SIR currently stands at 3.45. In other words for every 100,000 Palo Alto Networks shares traded daily on the market, roughly 3450 shares are currently held short.

However Palo Alto Networks's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Palo Alto Networks shares, or, against the total number of tradable Palo Alto Networks shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Palo Alto Networks's short interest could be expressed as 0.05% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Palo Alto Networks shares in existence, roughly 50 shares are currently held short) or 0.0461% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Palo Alto Networks shares, roughly 46 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Palo Alto Networks.

Find out more about how you can short Palo Alto Networks stock.

Palo Alto Networks's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Palo Alto Networks.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Palo Alto Networks's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 18.28

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Palo Alto Networks's overall score of 18.28 (as at 10/01/2020) is excellent – landing it in it in the 13rd percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Palo Alto Networks is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Palo Alto Networks's environmental score

Environmental score: 6.25/100

Palo Alto Networks's environmental score of 6.25 puts it squarely in the 8th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Palo Alto Networks is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Palo Alto Networks's social score

Social score: 11.98/100

Palo Alto Networks's social score of 11.98 puts it squarely in the 8th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Palo Alto Networks is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Palo Alto Networks's governance score

Governance score: 11.05/100

Palo Alto Networks's governance score puts it squarely in the 8th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Palo Alto Networks is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Palo Alto Networks's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Palo Alto Networks scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Palo Alto Networks has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Palo Alto Networks, Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2020-10-01.

Total ESG score	18.28
Total ESG percentile	12.5
Environmental score	6.25
Environmental score percentile	8
Social score	11.98
Social score percentile	8
Governance score	11.05
Governance score percentile	8
Level of controversy	2

Palo Alto Networks share dividends

We're not expecting Palo Alto Networks to pay a dividend over the next 12 months.

Palo Alto Networks share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Palo Alto Networks's shares have ranged in value from as little as $125.47 up to $275.03. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Palo Alto Networks's is 1.1671. This would suggest that Palo Alto Networks's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Palo Alto Networks overview

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides cybersecurity platform solutions worldwide. The company provides firewall appliances and software; Panorama, a security management solution for the control of appliances and software deployed on an end-customer's network as a virtual or a physical appliance; and virtual system upgrades, which are available as extensions to the virtual system capacity that ships with physical appliances. It also offers subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, uniform resource locator filtering, malware and persistent threat, laptop and mobile device protection, and firewall, as well as cyberattacks, threat intelligence, and data loss prevention. In addition, the company provides professional services, including architecture design and planning, configuration, and firewall migration, as well as online and in-classroom education training services, as well as support services. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. sells its products and services through its channel partners, as well as directly to medium to large enterprises, service providers, and government entities operating in various industries, including education, energy, financial services, government entities, healthcare, Internet and media, manufacturing, public sector, and telecommunications. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Palo Alto Networks is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 2.213% of Palo Alto Networks shares are held by insiders and 81.859% by institutions.

• How many people work for Palo Alto Networks?

  Latest data suggests 8,014 work at Palo Alto Networks.

• When does the fiscal year end for Palo Alto Networks?

  Palo Alto Networks's fiscal year ends in July.

• Where is Palo Alto Networks based?

  Palo Alto Networks's address is: 3000 Tannery Way, Santa Clara, CA, United States, 95054

• What is Palo Alto Networks's ISIN number?

  Palo Alto Networks's international securities identification number is: US6974351057

• What is Palo Alto Networks's CUSIP number?

  Palo Alto Networks's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 697435105