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Revenue and profit forecasts exceed Wall Street estimates

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Palo Alto's founder Nir Zuk retires after over 20 years

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Company appoints Lee Klarich as CTO and board member

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Cybersecurity company's fourth-quarter revenue up 16%

(Adds analyst comment in paragraphs 5-6)

By Jaspreet Singh

Aug 18 (Reuters) - Palo Alto Networks ( PANW ) forecast

fiscal 2026 revenue and profit above analysts' estimates on

Monday, betting on growing demand for its artificial

intelligence-powered cybersecurity solutions, sending its shares

up 5% in extended trading.

The company has been benefiting from an AI-driven upgrade

cycle as enterprises accelerate their cloud adoption and

modernize security operations amid rising data breach incidents.

A wave of high-profile cyberattacks has hit global companies

including Microsoft ( MSFT ), UnitedHealth Group ( UNH ), Walt

Disney ( DIS ) and Oracle, prompting the need for

robust security solutions.

Palo Alto's new launches such as cloud security platform

'Cortex Cloud' and security platform to protect AI apps 'Prisma

AIRS', together with its planned $25 billion CyberArk

acquisition, deepen its cybersecurity offerings.

"The company benefits from both net new AI spending as well

as a reallocation from services to products (via automation),"

said Morningstar analyst Malik Ahmed Khan.

"We think the CyberArk Software acquisition gets them

access to more customers to cross-sell identity over to existing

Palo Alto customers and the other way around as well."

Palo Alto also announced on Monday that founder and Chief

Technology Officer Nir Zuk has retired after being with the

company for over 20 years. Long-time product leader Lee Klarich

has been named as its CTO and board member.

Klarich will also chair the board's security committee in a

bid to bolster the company's AI-driven platform strategy.

The company projected annual revenue between $10.48 billion

and $10.53 billion, above analysts' average estimate of $10.43

billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It expects adjusted profit per share of $3.75 to $3.85,

above estimates of $3.67 for the fiscal year.

The company's first-quarter revenue forecast of $2.45

billion to $2.47 billion came in above expectations of $2.43

billion. Its adjusted quarterly earnings per share of 88 cents

to 90 cents was also above estimates of 85 cents.

Palo Alto's fourth-quarter revenue grew 16% to $2.54 billion

from a year ago. It reported adjusted EPS of 95 cents for the

quarter ended July 31, beating estimates of 88 cents.