Shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) surged in after-hours trading after the company reported earnings for its fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2023. Earnings per share came in at $1.44, which beat analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.28 per share. Sales increased by 25.8% year-over-year, with revenue hitting $1.95 billion. However, this missed analysts’ expectations by $10 million.
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Looking forward, management now expects revenue and adjusted earnings per share for Q1 2024 to be in the ranges of $1.82 billion to $1.85 billion and $1.15 to $1.17, respectively. For reference, analysts were expecting $1.93 billion in revenue along with an adjusted EPS of $1.11.
For Fiscal Year 2024, revenue is anticipated to be between $8.15 billion and $8.2 billion versus estimates of $8.38 billion. However, EPS guidance is much more favorable, coming in between $5.27 and $5.40 compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.95.
Overall, Wall Street has a consensus price target of $260.23 on PANW stock, implying 24.1% upside potential, as indicated by the graphic above.
