Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora confronts Wall Street skeptics after company’s biggest bet yet
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Aug 05 2025
0mins
Source: CNBC
Palo Alto Networks Acquisition: CEO Nikesh Arora has led Palo Alto Networks to a sixfold increase in market cap since 2018, culminating in a $25 billion acquisition of CyberArk, marking the company's largest deal and positioning it against major competitors like Microsoft and Okta in the identity management space.
Market Reaction and Future Challenges: Despite ambitious growth plans, Wall Street's response has been negative, with stock downgrades following the announcement; analysts express concerns over integration challenges and potential lack of synergies from the acquisition.
Analyst Views on CYBR
Wall Street analysts forecast CYBR stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for CYBR is 495.60 USD with a low forecast of 448.00 USD and a high forecast of 524.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
13 Analyst Rating
3 Buy
10 Hold
0 Sell
Hold
Current: 442.750
Low
448.00
Averages
495.60
High
524.00
Current: 442.750
Low
448.00
Averages
495.60
High
524.00
About CYBR
CyberArk Software Ltd is an Israel-based provider of information technology (IT) security solutions that protect organizations from cyber-attacks. The Company's software solutions are focused on protecting privileged accounts, which have become a critical target in the lifecycle of cyber-attacks. The Company's Privileged Account Security Solution consists of various products, such as Shares Technology Platform, Enterprise Password Vault, SSH Key Manager, Privileged Session Manager, Privileged Threat Analytics, Application Identity Manager, CyberArk-Conjur, Endpoint Privilege Manager and On-Demand Privileges Manager. The Company's products protect against external and internal cyber threats and enable detection and neutralization of attacks. The Company's Enterprise Password Vault provides customers with a tool to manage and protect all privileged accounts across an entire organization, including physical, virtual, or cloud-based assets.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
