Palo Alto Networks downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler downgraded Palo Alto Networks to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $300, down from $350. The company’s results for the third quarter in a row “are creating a large degree of investor consternation,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says Palo Alto is the largest platform player in the segment and, in hopes to accelerate that positioning, will take an aggressive approach in offering free product with the promise of longer-term, platform contracts. This should negatively impact the business for 12-18 months – eliminating $600M from billings estimates in the back half of this year, adds Piper. It believes this will have a negative impact on both growth rates and multiple in the short to medium term.