Palo Alto Networks (PANW) just picked up another vote of confidence from Wall Street, and it arrived at a busy moment for the stock.
Shares closed at $247.55 on May 18, near a fresh all-time high reached days earlier.
For a stock that fell roughly 20% over the prior year, that swing matters to anyone holding it.
The new call gives investors something concrete to weigh before the company opens its books.
Palo Alto Networks is the largest pure-play cybersecurity firm by market value.SOPA Images / Getty Images
Morgan Stanley raises its PANW price target to $253 on firewall and AI security demand
Morgan Stanley analysts Meta Marshall and Keith Weiss raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks to $253 from $223 on May 20, keeping an Overweight rating, TipRanks reports.
That implies about 2% upside from the May 18 close, modest on its own but notable given how far the stock has already run.
The bank pointed to strong demand across firewall refreshes, Prisma SASE, Cortex XSIAM and AI security as the drivers.
A firewall refresh is the cycle where companies replace aging network security hardware, and that replacement wave is now feeding revenue.
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The firm based the new target on a higher 37x multiple of estimated 2027 free cash flow per share, up from 32x, a sign it now thinks investors will pay more for each dollar Palo Alto generates.
Why the timing of the Palo Alto Networks call points straight at June 2 earnings
The upgrade is not random. Palo Alto Networks reports fiscal third-quarter results on June 2 after the market closes, and analysts are positioning ahead of it.
Morgan Stanley expects the company to beat consensus on remaining performance obligations, a measure of contracted future revenue that hints at demand the income statement has not yet recorded.
The bank sees RPO growing closer to 33% year over year, above the midpoint of management’s own guidance.
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It also expects product revenue to land well above the roughly 25% growth management guided to.
Two recent prints set the table: Fortinet grew product revenue 41% in its first quarter and lifted full-year guidance, per sec.gov, while Cisco beat on networking.
Such strong numbers from rivals often signal that the whole firewall market is healthy, which works in Palo Alto’s favor.
How the Idira identity launch reshapes the Palo Alto Networks growth story
The bigger structural change sits in identity security, the work of controlling who and what can access a company’s systems.
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That job is getting harder fast.
As AI agents start acting on their own inside companies, the number of things that need permission to log in and move data is exploding, and each one is a target.
Palo Alto is moving to own that problem. As announced in a Palo Alto press release, the company introduced Idira on May 12 as its next-generation identity platform, built to manage access for humans, machines, and AI agents.
The launch makes the company’s $25 billion CyberArk acquisition a built-in part of the platform instead of a separate, standalone product.
Morgan Stanley sees three reasons Idira matters:
It gives a clear answer for why identity belongs inside a security platform, since agentic AI makes privileged access far more common.
It opens a cross-sell path into Palo Alto’s base of more than 70,000 customers.
It lets existing CyberArk customers add zero-trust and machine identity tools over time.
The thesis is that identity becomes a fourth pillar alongside network, cloud, and security operations, widening how much each customer can spend.
What still has to go right for the $253 PANW target to hold
A higher target is not a guarantee, and the setup carries real risk.
The stock trades at a premium valuation, with a forward earnings multiple far above the market, so any growth wobble can hit the shares hard.
Palo Alto fell more than 5% after its last two earnings reports despite beating estimates, a reminder that a strong quarter does not always lift the stock.
Morgan Stanley also flagged possible pressure on hardware gross margins from rising memory costs, though it noted hardware makes up a smaller share of Palo Alto’s revenue than it does for competitors.
For the bull case to work, a few things need to land.
Here are four signals to watch on June 2:
RPO growth at or above the 32% to 33% range that management guided to
Product revenue clearing the 25% growth bar, helped by early firewall ordering
Next-Gen Security ARR holding its roughly 56% growth pace
Early signs that customers are adopting Idira and CyberArk tools
If management reiterates its full-year guides, as Morgan Stanley expects, the durable-demand argument gets stronger.
How PANW stacks up against the broader market and its peers
Context helps here. Palo Alto carries a market value near $176 billion, making it the largest pure-play cybersecurity name.
The stock’s roughly 78% climb off its 52-week low of $139.57 has far outpaced the S&P 500 over the same window, after touching a record high in mid-May.
However, Wall Street is not unanimous on price, even while broadly bullish.
Recent targets range widely.
Here’s where analysts stand ahead of earnings:
Oppenheimer set a Street-high $275 after the CyberArk Impact event, Barchart reports
Truist moved to $275 from $200, and RBC Capital lifted its target to $255
The consensus average sits near $223, with a low of $114 and a high of $285, per Stock Analysis data
That spread reflects a debate over valuation, not the company’s growth.
The takeaway for Palo Alto Networks investors
Morgan Stanley’s move to $253 fits a wider pattern of analysts raising targets ahead of the June 2 report, driven by firewall demand, AI security traction, and a cleaner identity story following CyberArk.
The case rests on Palo Alto beating its RPO and product revenue guides while showing early Idira adoption.
The risk is a stretched valuation that has punished the stock even on good news.
Investors who already own PANW have a clear checklist for earnings day, and those waiting on the sidelines may want to see the quarter before paying near record prices.
Either way, the demand trends Morgan Stanley is betting on get tested in a matter of days.
Related: Ford stock hits the jackpot with latest move, Morgan Stanley says
This story was originally published by TheStreet on May 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the Investing section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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