Live: Will Palo Alto Networks (Nasdaq: PANW) Blow Out Earnings Today?

“In Q4, our bookings growth turned a corner and was the highest we’ve seen in 2.5 years. This growth is driven by deals across our platforms and also as a result of strong renewals and upsells across our existing portfolio.” – Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora

Yes, our focus has already shifted to leveraging the scale to define the next decade of cybersecurity. The very fabric of technology is being reowned by AI, creating a vast new and complex attack surface. In this new era, security is no longer a bolt-on. It is a foundational enabler of transformational success. The record-breaking number of platformization deals this quarter demonstrates that customers are not just buying products, they are buying into a strategic partnership. We believe that integrated best-of-breed platforms deliver superior security outcomes and our customers are validating this conviction by making larger, more strategic commitment to us than ever before.

If you want to keep following Palo Alto’s earnings – stay on this page. 

The company just started their conference call and we will post highlights of it.

Palo Alto was briefly up 7% after hours, but its gains have moderated slightly. The stock is now up about 5%.

Fabrinet was the other ‘big’ tech earnings report tonight and its down 2% after reporting pretty outstanding earnings with guidance well above Wall Street expectations.

With many stocks having seen significant runs in recent months, its tough to please Wall Street with even impressive reports.

PANW | Palo Alto Networks Q4’25 Earnings Highlights:

• Adj. EPS: $0.95 []; UP +27% YoY
• Revenue: $2.5B []; UP +16% YoY
• Adj. Gross Margin: 73.2% []; UP +90 bps YoY
• Net Income: $0.254B []; DOWN -29% YoY
• Next-Generation Security ARR: $5.6B; UP +32% YoY
• Remaining Performance Obligation: $15.8B; UP +24% YoY

Q4’25 Outlook:

• Revenue: $2.45B to $2.47B []
  • Represents year-over-year growth of 15%.
  • Guidance reflects strong demand for Next-Generation Security offerings.

Q4 Segment Performance:

• Product Revenue: $0.574B []; UP +19.5% YoY
• Subscription and Support Revenue: $1.962B []; UP +15% YoY

Other Key Q4 Metrics:

• Adj. Operating Income: $0.497B []; UP +108% YoY
• Adj. Operating Expenses: $1.360B []; UP +2% YoY
• R&D Expenses: $0.504B []; UP +2% YoY
• Free Cash Flow: $0.673B; UP +29% YoY
• Effective Tax Rate: 57.1% (vs. -12.1% YoY)

CEO Commentary:

• Nikesh Arora: “Our strong execution in Q4 reflects a fundamental market shift in which customers understand that a fragmented defense is no defense at all against modern threats. They are partnering with us because our platforms are designed to work in concert, creating powerful operational synergies that deliver superior, near real-time outcomes and the efficiency our customers need.”

CFO Commentary:

• Dipak Golechha: “Our strong top-line results were complemented by continued operating efficiency and strong free cash flow generation, making us a ‘Rule-of-50’ company for the fifth consecutive year. We are excited to carry this momentum into fiscal year 2026, where we will continue to execute against our profitable growth framework.”

Wall Street was expecting Palo Alto to announce revenue of $10.427 billion next Fiscal year.

Here’s what the company guided to:

• Total revenue in the range of $10.475 billion to $10.525 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 14%.

At the midpoint, that’s $10.5 billion in revenue in Fiscal 2026. That’s another beat.

These are very strong earnings. Palo Alto shares are now up 7%. 

We just posted a couple updates ago if Q1 guidance is in the $2.47 billion range that would be well received and Q1 guidance calls for revenue between $2.45 billion and $2.47 billion.

That’s above Wall Street expectations.

• Next-Generation Security ARR of $7.00 billion to $7.10 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 26% and 27%.
• Remaining performance obligation of $18.6 billion to $18.7 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 17% and 18%.
• Total revenue in the range of $10.475 billion to $10.525 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 14%.
• Non-GAAP operating margin in the range of 29.2% to 29.7%.
• Diluted non-GAAP net income per share in the range of $3.75 to $3.85, using 710 million to 716 million shares outstanding.
• Adjusted free cash flow margin in the range of 38.0% to 39.0%.

<– That’s Palo Alto’s Fiscal 2026 guidance. We’ll analyze it in a moment. Shares continue trading up.

We said the initial numbers look good and Wall Street agrees, first post-release trades are up 3.35% after-hours.

Earnings are out

• EPS of $.95 beats expectations of $.89
• Revenue of $2.536 billion also beats

Initial numbers look good.

Wall Street will be watching closely if Palo Alto beat earnings last quarter, but they’ll also see if the company’s guidance exceeds current expectations.

Here’s what Wall Street currently expects in Fiscal Q1 2026:

• Revenue: $2.43 billion
• EPS (Adjusted): $.85

So if you see Palo Alto report and are disappointed to see revenue guided down next quarter, fear not.

If the company were to issue guidance that was something like $2.47 billion in revenue next qaurter at its midpoint, that would likely lead to a positive reaction in the company’s share price as it would handily top expectations.

Palo Alto’s earnings are just minutes away and we’ll be issuing updates right after they hit newswires. 

Here’s what Palo Alto forecast for this quarter when they last issued earnings:

• Next-Generation Security ARR of $5.52 billion to $5.57 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 31% and 32%.
• Remaining performance obligation of $15.2 billion to $15.3 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 19% and 20%.
• Total revenue in the range of $2.49 billion to $2.51 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 14% and 15%.
• Diluted non-GAAP net income per share in the range of $0.87 to $0.89, using 704 million to 707 million shares outstanding.

Wall Street currently expects revenue of $2.502 billion (almost exactly at the midpoint of Palo Alto’s guidance) and EPS of $.89 (at the top end of Palo Alto’s guidance).