Why Victoria's Secret's Breach Is A Wake-Up Call For Cybersecurity ETF Investors

Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst

PANW+0.44%

CSCO+0.87%

AVGO-1.01%

Source: Benzinga

Updated: Jun 03 2025

0mins

Source: Benzinga

Cybersecurity Breaches Impacting Businesses: Victoria's Secret experienced a cybersecurity breach that took its website offline, highlighting the growing threat of cyberattacks across various sectors, including retail and healthcare, which can lead to significant financial losses.
Investment Opportunities in Cybersecurity ETFs: The cybersecurity industry is projected to grow significantly, prompting investors to consider sector-specific ETFs as a means to capitalize on this trend, with several funds showing strong returns over the past year.

PANW

$182.27+Infinity%1D

Analyst Views on PANW

Wall Street analysts forecast PANW stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for PANW is 232.49 USD with a low forecast of 157.00 USD and a high forecast of 265.00 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.

34 Analyst Rating

28 Buy

5 Hold

1 Sell

Strong Buy

Current: 181.470

Low

157.00

Averages

232.49

High

265.00

Current: 181.470

Low

157.00

Averages

232.49

High

265.00

Guggenheim

John DiFucci

Sell -> Neutral

upgrade

2026-01-05

Reason

Guggenheim

John DiFucci

Price Target

AI Analysis

2026-01-05

upgrade

Sell -> Neutral

Reason

Guggenheim analyst John DiFucci late Friday upgraded Palo Alto Networks to Neutral from Sell without a price target. The stock has significantly underperformed the major indices, making it more difficult to make money shorting Palo Alto at this time, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm believes Palo Alto Networks should continue to benefit from the narrative as the largest pure-play vendor in the security space. The sector is "somewhat insulated, if not boosted by the threat of AI," contends Guggenheim.

Piper Sandler

Overweight

maintain

$230 -> $265

2026-01-05

Reason

Piper Sandler

Price Target

$230 -> $265

2026-01-05

maintain

Overweight

Reason

Piper Sandler raised the firm's price target on Palo Alto Networks to $265 from $230 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm says 2025 proved to be a tough year for its Security & Infrastructure Software coverage, with the average name showing negative performance and only four names outperforming the NASDAQ. Piper is cautiously optimistic for a better year in 2026, with many names entering the year at interesting valuation levels setup well to be longer-term GenAI winners, despite monetization at the software layer not yet occurring at scale.

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Guggenheim

Sell -> Neutral

upgrade

2026-01-02

Reason

Guggenheim

Price Target

2026-01-02

upgrade

Sell -> Neutral

Reason

Guggenheim upgraded Palo Alto Networks to Neutral from Sell.

Morgan Stanley

Overweight

maintain

$228 -> $245

2025-12-18

Reason

Morgan Stanley

Price Target

$228 -> $245

2025-12-18

maintain

Overweight

Reason

Morgan Stanley raised the firm's price target on Palo Alto Networks to $245 from $228 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. Cybersecurity names were largely flat on the year, with platforms being up about 30%, on average, and the rest of the space being down about 12%, the analyst tells investors. The firm continues to see platforms as the "easiest way to play cyber" and expects them to continue to outperform, but believes other opportunities remain, the analyst tells investors in a year-ahead note for the group.

About PANW

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides comprehensive artificial intelligence (AI)-powered security solutions across network, cloud, security operations and AI. The Company focuses on four areas: Network Security, Cloud Security, Security Operations and Threat Intelligence and Advisory Services (Unit 42). Its network security platform comprises ML-powered firewalls, AI Runtime Security, and a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) framework, which includes Prisma Access, Prisma SD-WAN, and Prisma Access Browser to secure remote workforces and branch offices. Its Cloud security is delivered via Prisma Cloud, a Code to Cloud platform that protects applications, data, GenAI environments, and the cloud-native stack throughout the development lifecycle. Its Unit 42 division provides intelligence-led consulting, incident response, managed detection and response, and threat hunting services. Its Prisma AIRS is an AI security platform which secures applications, agents, models and data.

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.