Palo Alto Networks price target raised by $58 at Piper Sandler, here’s why

Piper Sandler analyst Rob Owens raised the firm’s price target on Palo Alto Networks to $343 from $285 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The analyst says Q3 reports for the security and infrastructure software space brought a “strong sense of stability relating to economic trends as well as green-shoots of optimism pertaining to cloud growth and the impact of generative AI on increased demand / spend over the coming years. The firm’s valuation methodology rolls forward, lowering the duration of remaining discount periods as well as looking at terminal free cash flow multiples “in a more compelling light given the more-so favorable outlook.”