New York, February 20, 2026, 11:28 EST — Regular session
- Palo Alto Networks was up roughly 4.6% at $158.01 by late morning.
- After the takeover, the company pegged March 20 as the deadline for CyberArk’s 0% convertible notes.
- Palo Alto’s deal spree keeps traders guessing—growth prospects on one side, margin pressure on the other.
Palo Alto Networks shares gained Friday, bouncing back somewhat after this week’s post-earnings slide, with investors juggling the company’s acquisition-fueled growth story against its dimmer profit forecast.
The jump is significant—Palo Alto wants investors to value a new combination: a heavier focus on deal volume and its wider “platform” story, but that comes with steeper integration costs and slimmer near-term earnings per share. That’s been a rough formula for software stocks recently, and Palo Alto is caught squarely in that crosscurrent.
During the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings call, CEO Nikesh Arora warned that AI is broadening the “attack surface”—giving cybercriminals more entry points. Security budgets, he argued, shouldn’t be trimmed in this climate: “In that environment, security cannot sit on the sidelines,” Arora told listeners. TD Cowen’s Shaul Eyal echoed that view, labeling AI “an incremental demand driver” for security platforms. (Cybersecurity Dive)
Palo Alto announced late Thursday it’s launching an offer to buy CyberArk Software’s 0.00% convertible senior notes due 2030, following the Feb. 11 closure of its deal for CyberArk. The company said holders can demand a cash repurchase up until 5 p.m. New York time on March 20, with settlement slated for March 24. (Palo Alto Networks)
The tender-offer filing said the repurchase right isn’t tied to a financing condition — a signal to noteholders that money should be on hand if they choose to sell back their notes. (SEC)
The stock finished Friday up $7.02 from Thursday’s $150.99 close. Shares started the day at $150.28, hit $158.05 at the peak, and dropped to $149.34 at the low.
Analysts are still trying to sort out what’s just short-term noise and what’s a real shift in demand. Morgan Stanley cut its price target on Palo Alto to $223 from $245 but left its “overweight” call in place, saying the selloff after earnings looked “overdone,” according to Investopedia. Wedbush stuck to its outperform rating and $225 target, describing Palo Alto as “one of our favorite cyber names to own in 2026,” the report noted. (Investopedia)
This is a company that started with firewalls, but now its reach stretches into cloud security, security operations, and identity. Acquisitions have been its strategy for plugging holes. The CyberArk deal brings in a substantial identity-security piece. As for Chronosphere, that’s about observability—giving firms a way to monitor activity inside their vast cloud setups.
Still, there’s risk on the table. Integration might drag out and eat up more cash than expected, while customers—if budgets get squeezed—could hit pause on bigger platform updates. Signs that deal expenses keep chipping away at profit, or cross-selling is slower to materialize, would weigh on the stock.
Next on the radar for traders: CyberArk noteholders face a March 20 deadline to exercise their cash repurchase option, with the actual repurchase set for March 24. After these dates, attention shifts to whether management can clarify the tug-of-war between integration expenses and growth, and demonstrate that the platform story is translating into more stable, higher-quality revenue.
