Morgan Stanley analysts raised the firm's price target on Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) to $302 from $255, reiterating an Overweight rating on the stock in a note Monday.
The analysts told investors that they believe PANW will surpass a $100 billion market cap in the next 12 months due to accelerating share gain from vendor consolidation, an expanding TAM, and improving margins.
The firm's case is based on PANW's broad platform evolution and ability to consolidate security spending across a large installed base, its higher mix of recurring Next-Gen SaaS Security revenue, and its significant margin expansion coming out of a multi-year investment cycle.
"We think the bull case gets stronger from here as share gains accelerate from enterprises further consolidating on the PANW platform for more efficient and effective security outcomes," wrote analysts.
"At the same time, operating margin has significant room to expand from improving upsell and a larger recurring revenue base," they added. "We forecast total revenue doubling to >$14 billion and ~$17 in FCF per share in FY27, which underpins NTM Price Target of $302."
The analysts also said they believe AI tailwinds will become more apparent for PANW, which is up more than 1% at the time of writing Monday.