By Senad Karaahmetovic
Morgan Stanley analysts shared insights from the latest work-from-home (WFH) survey. The results signal “durable firewall demand as enterprises secure increasingly distributed, hybrid IT networks.” Along these lines, analyst Hamza Fodderwala reiterated Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) as a Top Pick in the cybersecurity sector.
“We see most upside in PANW, which is still early innings into the enterprise refresh cycle and trading at 22X CY23e FCFfor 30% FCF growth,” Fodderwala told clients in a note.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) is also mentioned positively as the company is expected to “benefit as a leading share gainer in firewalls and broader platform aiming to consolidate security & networking spend.”
In a separate client note, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) analyst Meta A Marshall said the survey results yielded “unrecognized value in ZM and PANW.”
“We see PANW as our preferred way to play continued security investment driven by a more distributed workforce and hybrid IT sprawl post-COVID,” Marshall wrote in a note.
PANW shares are down 0.5% in pre-open Wednesday.