By Elias Schisgall
Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike are set to report their quarterly results this week. Here's what you need to know.
THE CONTEXT:
The two cybersecurity stocks have been relatively immune from concerns that artificial-intelligence models could replace their services.
Though a leak about the cybersecurity capabilities of a new Anthropic model triggered a minor sell-off in March, both Palo Alto and CrowdStrike rebounded in April after they were included in Anthropic's Project Glasswing, a coalition of firms formed to study the cybersecurity implications of the Claude Mythos model.
Glasswing was seen by many analysts as validating the notion that powerful AI models capable of finding vulnerabilities faster than humans and a proliferation of AI "agents" will increase, not lessen, the need for cybersecurity services.
"Cybersecurity platforms have access to telemetry, policy enforcement, and the control planes while AI labs strength lies in code understanding, reasoning, and automation," Benchmark analyst Yi Fu Lee wrote in a recent note. "Top tier cybersecurity SaaS/software firms and AI labs need each other."
The growth of AI agents in particular has driven interest in identity security, or the process of verifying that only authorized users--be they AI bots or humans--have access to a given piece of software or information. Palo Alto last month rebranded CyberArk, an identity security firm which it acquired last summer, as Idira, part of a pivot toward agentic identity security.
Palo Alto stock has risen 63% this year, while shares of CrowdStrike are up 66%.
THE NUMBERS:
Palo Alto is expected to report third-quarter net income of $354.4 million, adjusted earnings of 80 cents a share, and revenue of $2.94 billion, according to FactSet. That compares with a profit of $262.1 million, adjusted earnings of 80 cents a share and $2.29 billion of revenue a year earlier. Results are due after the market close on Tuesday.
Crowdstrike is expected to report first-quarter loss of $11 million, adjusted earnings of $1.07 a share on revenue of $1.36 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet. That compares with a loss a year ago of $110.2 million, adjusted earnings of 73 cents a share and revenue of $1.10 billion. The company is expected to report earnings after the bell on Wednesday.
Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 02, 2026 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)
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