10 cybersecurity stocks to watch and to invest in
15:41, 21 June 2019
Cybersecurity is no longer something that concerns just a select number of companies. Today, it’s a global issue that may cause millions of dollars in monetary damages and other destructions. According to the global business risks report 2019, cybersecurity is ranked the fifth highest threat, following data theft and fraud.
As the cybersecurity sector continues to heat up, numerous businesses tend to spend more and more money on cybersecurity. Gartner estimates worldwide information security spending to exceed $124 billion this year.
The growing demand for cyberdefense services across almost all industries and a massive shortage of cybersecurity specialists ensures the cybersecurity market’s growth for the foreseeable future.
A new day, a new attack – a new reason to buy a cybersecurity stock
The drastic rise of cyber attacks and a huge demand for cybersecurity solutions have driven cybersecurity shares up. Over the past year, one of the top cybersecurity ETFs – the Prime Cybersecurity ETF – has grown by 20%.
With the increasing pace of cyber-hacks, the global need for cyber defence will continue to grow. Therefore, it’s high time to pick up the best cybersecurity stocks and make your own cybersecurity investments.
Here’s the list of the most promising and outperforming cybersecurity stocks that you should watch over the next couple of years.
# 1. Palo Alto Networks (PANW)
When it comes to investing in cybersecurity stocks, Palo Alto Networks tops the list of possible alternatives and becomes the share of choice for many traders. This brand has become a synonym to cybersecurity, and is often considered as a proper substitute for the whole cybersecurity space.
The PANW stock performance proves the company’s success with a 150% growth rally over the past 5 years. The company can also boast of a steady 20% revenue growth. The latest Palo Alto Networks (PANW) stock price as of June 19, 2019 is $209.12. The PANW stock’s all-time high is $254.88, which is 21.9% more than the current share price.
# 2. Fortinet (FTNT)
Another cybersecurity giant, Fortinet, is a strong and significant cybersecurity company with a good performance and a track record of 20% revenue growth. Estimating the stock’s performance over the past 5 years, FTNT share price is up 211%. The latest Fortinet (FTNT) stock price was $76.96. The FTNT stock’s all-time high is $95.22, which is 23.7% more than the current share price.
Despite the growing competition, Fortinet’s performance and revenue growth is not slowing down. Announcing the strong performance results for Q4 2018, Ken Xie, Fortinet’s Founder and CEO mentioned, “We are well-positioned to achieve another year of better than industry growth in 2019, driven by business momentum and strong customer demand for our broad, integrated, and automated security solutions across their entire network infrastructure.”
# 3. Check Point (CHKP)
Check Point is another of the world’s cybersecurity giants. However, the stock of the international cyber defense titan has been struggling recently – over the past year CHKP stock price gained only 14%. The share price weakness is caused mostly by an extensive slowdown in revenue growth – 2% over the last quarter, which is unusually low for Check Point in general.
Though analysts are not so positive about the Check Point (CHKP) stock in the meantime, it can still be a bargain in the long run due to strong cybersecurity tailwinds.
The latest Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP) stock price, as of June 2019, was $114.23. The CHKP stock’s all-time high is $131.57, which is 15.2% more than the current share price.
# 4. FireEye (FEYE)
In terms of positive performance, FireEye (FEYE) shares are more similar to the shares of Check Point than that of Fortinet and Palo Alto. A prominent cybersecurity company, FEYE is a strong industry player with healthy development prospects, but with no robust revenue growth.
Barely profitable FEYE stocks might not seem like an attractive investment opportunity, however, history shows that the FEYE stock has been very cyclical. So, FireEye (FEYE) shares could also bring some attractive trading opportunities in the future.
The latest FireEye (FEYE) stock price was $14.89. The FEYE stock’s all-time high is $95.62, which is 542.2% more than the current share price.
#5. Proofpoint (PFPT)
A fast-growing player in the cybersecurity sector, Proofpoint (PFPT) is not as big as the cybersecurity giants mentioned above. However, it successfully serves the defence and aerospace, education and financial services, manufacturing and healthcare industries.
Despite a $6 billion market capitalisation (compare with Palo Alto’s $20 billion), it experiences massive growth within a rapidly expanding cybersecurity industry. The PFPT stock’s performance looks great – over the past 5 years the Proofpoint’s shares has grown 200%.
The latest Proofpoint (PFPT) stock price, as of June 2019, was $114.07. The PFPT stock’s all-time high is $131.32, which is 15.1% more than the current share price.
# 6. CyberArk (CYBR)
Similar to its peer Proofpoint, CyberArk (CYBR) is a relatively small-scale company with extremely big growth potential. With just a $2 billion market capitalisation, the company can boast of a 34% year-by-year revenue growth. The CYBR stock performance also seems bright – over the past year, the CYBR share price grew by 103%.
Analysts further predict CYBR stock’s stable bull run, however, at a slightly slower pace. The latest CyberArk (CYBR) stock price was $133.94. The CYBR stock’s all-time high is $135.77, which is only 1.4% more than the current share price.
# 7. Cisco (CSCO)
Representing much more than an exclusively cybersecurity company, Cisco Systems (CSCO) is an international conglomerate and the world’s leader in IT product development. Still, a significant part of the company’s business is dedicated to cybersecurity.
Today, CSCO stock price is considered relatively cheap and is gradually moving up. Cisco shares are considered relatively low-risk and low-volatility investments that lack big long-term growth drivers. The latest Cisco (CSCO) stock price was $56.13. CSCO’s all-time high is $63.70, which is only 13.5% more than the current share price.
# 8. Carbonite (CARB)
From big to small, but also highly important names in the cybersecurity industry, we can’t not mention Carbonite (CARB), which has one of the best growth performances in the cybersecurity space.
Carbonite positions itself as a data protection company. Considering an enormous volume of digital data circulating on the global scale, data protection will continue dominating the market over the upcoming years.
Though Carbonite (CARB) stock performance over the past year has been down by more than 70%, right now it has some good positive momentum. The latest Carbonite (CARB) stock price, as of June 2019, was $25.19. The CARB stock’s all-time high is $42.80, which is 69.9% more than the current share price.
# 9. Qualys (QLYS)
Another promising stock to watch is Qualys (QLYS). The company’s platform is extremely popular among enterprise customers, which contributes to the Qualys’s revenue growth for over 15%.
Qualys specialises in cybersecurity risk and compliance management solutions. It offers products for malware detection, policy compliance, web application scanning, and vulnerability management. The latest Qualys (QLYS) stock price was $88.96. The QLYS stock’s all-time high is $97.05, which is only 9.1% more than the current share price.
# 10. Zscaler (ZS)
Newly public and pretty small, Zscaler (ZS) promises to be one of the most risky but exciting cybersecurity stocks so far. The company launched its IPO in March 2018 at a price of $16 per share. During the first day of trading, this price was doubled, closing at $33. A year later, the ZS stock is traded at around $70.
Today, Zscaler is a popular cloud security business with almost 3,000 customers and a 50% revenue growth. The Zscaler (ZS) stock is considered a high-risk high-reward name in a bunch of other cybersecurity shares. The latest Zscaller (ZS) stock price as of June 2019 was $79.88, which is the company’s all-time high so far.
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