Palo Alto Networks (5AP) Q4 2026 Earnings Report
DE:5AP Q4 2026 EPS Results
- Actual EPS
- EUR 0.91
- Consensus EPS
- EUR 0.87
- Beat/Miss
- Beat by +EUR 0.04
- One Year Ago EPS
- EUR 0.85
DE:5AP Q4 2026 Revenue Results
- Actual Revenue
- EUR 3.05B
- Expected Revenue
- EUR 3.00B
- Beat/Miss
- Beat by +EUR 52.12M
- YoY Revenue Growth
- +34.45%
Earnings Announcement Details
- Quarter
- Q4 2026
- Date
- 09/01/2026
- Time
- After Close
- Conference Call
- Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Palo Alto Networks's next earnings date is estimated for November 12, 2026, based on past reporting schedules.
Q4 2026 Earnings Call Audio
Q4 2026 Earnings Slide Deck
Q4 2026 Earnings Call Summary
The call was strongly optimistic, characterized by record financial performance, accelerating platformization, rapid growth in Prisma AIRS, XSIAM, SASE, and observability, successful acquisition integration, and positive fiscal 2027 guidance. The main challenges were lower gross margins, expected cloud hosting-cost growth, persistent hardware commodity costs, the fading impact of a large Chronosphere migration, and the time required for customers to modernize legacy environments. Highlights significantly outweighed the lowlights.
For fiscal first quarter 27, Palo Alto Networks expects NGS ARR of $9.54 billion to $9.56 billion or 63% growth, RPO of $20.8 billion to $20.9 billion or 34% to 35% growth, revenue of $3.3 billion to $3.31 billion or 33% to 34% growth, fully diluted share count of 37 to 44 million shares, and diluted non GAAP EPS in the range of $0.96 to $0.98 per share; for fiscal year 2027, it expects NGS ARR of $11.075 billion to $11.175 billion or 22% to 23% growth, RPO of $25.2 billion to $25.4 billion or 19% to 20% growth, revenue of $14.1 billion to $14.2 billion or 23% to 24% growth, operating margin of 29.5%, diluted non GAAP EPS in the range of $4.16 to $4.19 per Fully diluted share count of 844 to 847 million shares, and adjusted free cash flow margin of 38%; it expects 60% to 61% of the net new NGS ARR to fall in the second half of FY 27, network and AI security revenue growth of low double digits year over year, Cortex revenue up approximately 30% year over year, and IDERA revenue of approximately $1.5 billion, representing pro form a growth of high teens to 20%. year over year, and it has a target of $20 billion in NGS ARR by fiscal year 2030 and a 40% free cash flow margin target in fiscal 2028.
- Record Q4 Execution Across All Financial MetricsPalo Alto Networks exceeded its guidance across every financial metric in Q4, with bookings momentum accelerating for the second consecutive quarter.
- Record RPO and NGS ARR GrowthRPO surpassed $20 billion for the first time, ending fiscal 2026 at $21.2 billion, up 34%. Current RPO reached $9.3 billion, also up 34%. NGS ARR reached $9.1 billion, up 63%, including nearly $1 billion of net new NGS ARR added in Q4.
- Strong Full-Year Revenue GrowthQ4 revenue grew 34% year over year to $3.41 billion. Fiscal 2026 revenue reached $11.5 billion, up 24% year over year.
- Broad Geographic GrowthRevenue growth was robust across all regions in fiscal 2026: the Americas increased 33% year over year, EMEA increased 39%, and JPAC increased 34%.
- Platformization Adoption AcceleratedThe company achieved approximately 22 net new platformizations in Q4, surpassing its prior record and representing more than twice the volume recorded when the metric was initiated two years ago. Net revenue retention for the platformized cohort exceeded 120% in Q4.
- Large Platformization WinsPalo Alto Networks secured a $126 million agreement with a global telecoms leader, a $72 million transaction with a premier IT service provider, and a $53 million platformization deal with a leading global payments platform. The deals included adoption across network security, SASE, Cortex, Idera, and Prisma AIRS.
- Prisma AIRS Scaled RapidlyPrisma AIRS surpassed $100 million in ARR within four quarters of general availability, making it the fastest-scaling product in Palo Alto Networks' history. The product had more than 800 customers, and the majority of the largest Q4 transactions featured multi-module adoption.
- Network and AI Security Platform GrowthNetwork and AI security revenue grew 17% in fiscal 2026 to $8.35 billion. Software firewall ARR growth accelerated to 29% in Q4, while hardware firewall demand was driven by adoption of the latest Gen 5 appliances.
- SASE Bookings and Competitive DisplacementsSASE bookings grew 40% in fiscal 2026. The company displaced legacy incumbents in nearly 100 accounts representing more than $400 million in total contract value, nearly double the displacement volume from a year earlier, and reached the number two position in the market.
- Strong Early Demand from AI Infrastructure BuyersThe company reported multiple seven-figure bookings in Q4 from sovereigns, neo clouds, and frontier labs deploying large-scale AI infrastructure.
- Agentic Traffic and Threat-Response CapabilitiesAgentic traffic on the SASE platform surged 9x over the last nine months. Palo Alto Networks stated that it blocked more than 30 billion attacks in a single day and that customers standardizing on XSIAM reduced mean time to respond to less than 10 minutes.
- XSIAM Reached Major ARR and Customer MilestonesXSIAM ended fiscal 2026 with more than $700 million in ARR, up 70%, and surpassed 1,000 customers. The majority of customers were using multiple modules, including exposure management and cloud security.
- Cortex and Observability GrowthCortex revenue grew 25% in fiscal 2026 to $1.92 billion. Observability ARR surpassed $500 million and more than doubled since the Chronosphere acquisition closed in Q2. Collectively, XSIAM and observability represented more than $1 billion in ARR.
- Chronosphere Customer Validation and Cross-SellChronosphere signed a $20 million deal with a hyper-growth AI inference provider processing tens of trillions of tokens per day. XSIAM contributed to 50% of net new cross-sell logos in Q4 through multiple seven-figure agreements.
- Successful CyberArk Integration and Revenue SynergiesTwo quarters after closing the CyberArk acquisition, the company said growth was accelerating and synergies were ahead of schedule. Joint go-to-market efforts generated more than 400 shared leads and over 200 net new logos in the installed base. Deals of $5 million or more in total contract value increased 50% year over year in Q4.
- CyberArk Margin and Product Expansion ProgressCyberArk's margins increased by 1,000 basis points or more in approximately nine months, according to management. The company launched Modern PAM, which is generally available, and plans to upgrade existing traditional PAM customers to the product.
- Operating Margin ExpansionQ4 non-GAAP operating margin was 29.6%. Fiscal 2026 non-GAAP operating margin was 29.2%, up 40 basis points year over year, despite including a partial year of the company's largest acquisitions.
- Record EPS and Free Cash FlowQ4 non-GAAP EPS was $1.02, exceeding the high end of guidance by $0.04. Q4 adjusted free cash flow reached $1.29 billion, up 35% year over year. Fiscal 2026 adjusted free cash flow was $4.41 billion, with a 38.4% margin, up 40 basis points year over year.
- Strong Balance Sheet and Cash-Flow VisibilityThe company ended fiscal 2026 with $7.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments. Annual billings increased to approximately 30% of total bookings in fiscal 2026, up by low single digits year over year, and management reaffirmed confidence in achieving a 40% free cash flow margin target in fiscal 2028.
- FY2027 GuidanceFor fiscal 2027, management guided to NGS ARR of $11.075 billion to $11.175 billion, representing 22% to 23% growth; RPO of $25.2 billion to $25.4 billion, representing 19% to 20% growth; revenue of $14.1 billion to $14.2 billion, representing 23% to 24% growth; operating margin of 29.5%; non-GAAP EPS of $4.16 to $4.19; and adjusted free cash flow margin of 38%.
- FY2027 Platform Growth OutlookFor fiscal 2027, management expects network and AI security revenue growth in the low double digits, Cortex revenue growth of approximately 30%, and Idera revenue of approximately $1.5 billion, representing pro forma growth of high teens to 20% year over year.
- New Acquisitions and AI-First Product StrategyThe company closed the acquisitions of Embrace and Console during the quarter. Console brings an AI-first approach to product development in IT and security operations and will join the Cortex effort. Management said the acquisitions are immaterial to fiscal 2027 guidance.
- Long-Term Market OpportunityPalo Alto Networks cited a total addressable market of $340 billion by 2030 and reaffirmed its target of $20 billion in NGS ARR by fiscal 2030. Management also stated that industry-leading R&D investment has supported leadership recognition across nearly every major category in which the company operates.
DE:5AP Earnings History
| Report Date | Fiscal Quarter | Forecast / EPS | Last Year's EPS | EPS YoY Change | Press Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 12, 2026 | 2027 (Q1) | 0.87- | 0.83 | ― | ― |
| Sep 01, 2026 | 2026 (Q4) | 0.870.91 | 0.85 | 7.37% (+0.06) | |
| Jun 02, 2026 | 2026 (Q3) | 0.710.76 | 0.72 | 6.25% (+0.04) | |
| Feb 17, 2026 | 2026 (Q2) | 0.840.92 | 0.72 | 27.16% (+0.20) | |
| Nov 19, 2025 | 2026 (Q1) | 0.800.83 | 0.7 | 19.23% (+0.13) | |
| Aug 18, 2025 | 2025 (Q4) | 0.790.85 | 0.68 | 25.83% (+0.17) | |
| May 20, 2025 | 2025 (Q3) | 0.690.72 | 0.59 | 21.21% (+0.13) | |
| Feb 13, 2025 | 2025 (Q2) | 0.700.72 | 0.65 | 10.96% (+0.07) | |
| Nov 20, 2024 | 2025 (Q1) | 0.660.70 | 0.62 | 13.04% (+0.08) | |
| Aug 19, 2024 | 2024 (Q4) | 0.630.68 | 0.64 | 4.86% (+0.03) |
The table shows recent earnings report dates and whether the forecast was beat or missed. See the change in forecast and EPS from the previous year.
