greeksoup/ stock research

Palo Alto Networks (PANW) FY2026 results: revenue $11.5 billion, up 24.5% on the year

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW) reported revenue of $11.5 billion for fiscal 2026, the year ended 31 July 2026, up 24.5% on the year before. Net income was $307 million, down 72.9%, and diluted earnings per share $0.40. The figures are the company's own, from the 10-K it filed with the SEC on 10 September 2026.

Revenue
$11.5 billion
+24.5% on the year
FY2019FY2026
Operating margin
6.1%
13.5% a year earlier
FY2019FY2026
Net income
$307 million
-72.9% on the year
FY2019FY2026
Diluted EPS
$0.40
-75.0% on the year
FY2019FY2026

this yearthe year beforeHover a bar for its figure.

The year in brief

What management said about the year

Guidance figures: 10 new.

  • Q4 revenue grew 34%: Fourth-quarter total revenue was $3,410 million, against $2,536 million a year earlier, according to the statement of operations.
  • Next-Generation Security ARR up 63%: Next-Generation Security ARR reached $9.10 billion for the quarter, up 63% year over year.
  • Convertible note fair-value change hit GAAP: GAAP net loss was $282 million, against net income of $254 million a year earlier. GAAP results include a $524 million fair-value change on convertible notes and capped calls, which non-GAAP excludes.
  • Non-GAAP operating income rose: Non-GAAP operating income was $1,011 million, up from $768 million. GAAP operating income fell to $172 million from $497 million.
  • Adjusted free cash flow $1.29 billion: Adjusted free cash flow was $1,289 million in the quarter, against $954 million, a margin of 37.8%.
Read the Q4 FY2026 earnings call summary

From this 10-K

Palo Alto Networks is a cybersecurity provider, incorporated in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with a financial year ending on 31 July. Its platforms and services secure enterprise users, networks, clouds, endpoints, AI applications and agents, and identities, and give real-time visibility across cloud infrastructure, applications and AI workloads. The stated strategy is to help customers simplify their security architecture by consolidating separate point products, packaging capabilities into platforms that cover many of a customer's needs at once, which the company calls platformization.

Palo Alto Networks Inc., the 10-K for 2026

Palo Alto Networks is a cybersecurity provider, incorporated in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with a financial year ending on 31 July. Its platforms and services secure enterprise users, networks, clouds, endpoints, AI applications and agents, and identities, and give real-time visibility across cloud infrastructure, applications and AI workloads. The stated strategy is to help customers simplify their security architecture by consolidating separate point products, packaging capabilities into platforms that cover many of a customer's needs at once, which the company calls platformization.

Network and AI security

This platform is built around zero trust. Prisma Access with Prisma SD-WAN forms the secure access service edge offering for users, branches, data and AI applications, with Prisma Browser extending zero trust and data protection into the browser. Machine-learning next-generation firewalls secure campus locations and data centres, and software versions of them secure virtual and cloud networks. A suite of cloud-delivered security services sits on top, including advanced threat prevention, WildFire, URL filtering, DNS security, device security, quantum security, GlobalProtect, enterprise data loss prevention, software as a service security and AI access security. Prisma AIRS is the AI security platform, bringing together an AI gateway, agent security, red teaming, runtime security, model security and posture management to discover, assess and protect AI agents, applications, models and data. Strata Cloud Manager manages the firewall and secure access estate from one interface, with a natural language assistant and digital experience monitoring.

Cortex

The Cortex platform covers security operations and observability. Cortex XSIAM replaces traditional security information and event management tools with AI-powered operations, Cortex XDR handles prevention, detection and response, Cortex XSOAR handles orchestration and automation, Cortex Xpanse handles attack surface management, and Koi adds agentic endpoint security. Cortex XSIAM integrates the Chronosphere telemetry pipeline to ingest and optimise large data volumes. Cortex Cloud is the cloud security offering, a cloud native application protection platform combined with cloud detection and response, securing multi-cloud and hybrid environments from code to cloud to security operations.

Identity and Unit 42

Idira is the identity security platform. Its privileged access management module secures high-risk administrative access across multi-cloud, on-premises and hybrid infrastructure, enforcing zero standing privilege through just-in-time elevation, automating credential rotation, managing SSH keys and recording sessions. Its identity and access management service unifies single sign-on, phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication and automated lifecycle management for a decentralised workforce. Unit 42 is the threat research, incident response and security consulting arm, which tests customers' security controls, responds to incidents on their behalf and sells managed detection and response and managed threat hunting, and in April 2026 it launched a suite of Frontier AI Defense services.

Buying in capability

The company buys businesses, technologies and intellectual property to complement its own development work. In January 2026 it completed the acquisition of Chronosphere, an observability technology company, which became its observability platform. In February 2026 it completed the acquisition of CyberArk, an identity security company, which became its identity security platform. In April 2026 it completed the acquisition of Koi, an endpoint posture management company.

Customers and selling

End-customers are enterprises, service providers and government entities across education, energy, financial services, healthcare, internet and media, manufacturing, the public sector and telecommunications, deploying the products in enterprise networks, data centres, cloud locations, branch and remote sites and on-device agents. No single end-customer was more than 10% of total revenue in fiscal 2026, 2025 or 2024. Most sales go through a two-tier indirect model, to distributors who sell to resellers who sell to end-customers, with 30% of fiscal 2026 revenue coming through two distributors, and virtual firewalls are also sold through cloud marketplaces. The NextWave channel programme had more than 8,700 partners at 31 July 2026. Competitors fall into four groups: large companies that build security or observability into their products, such as Alphabet, Cisco and Microsoft; independent security or observability vendors, including Check Point, CrowdStrike, Fortinet, Okta and Zscaler; startups and point-product vendors; and public cloud vendors. The global workforce was 21,921 at 31 July 2026.

From Palo Alto Networks' annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 July 2026. The filing

Written from the 10-K filed 10 September 2026: read the full 10-K.

The four quarters: Q1 FY2026 · Q2 FY2026 · Q3 FY2026 · Q4 FY2026

Income statement (profit and loss)

$ millionFY2026FY2025FY2024On the yearLast 8 years
Revenue11,4809,2228,028+24.5%
Cost of revenue3,4032,4522,059+38.8%
Gross profit8,0776,7705,968+19.3%
Gross margin70.4%73.4%74.3%
Research and development2,5521,9841,809+28.6%
Operating income6951,243684-44.1%
Operating margin6.1%13.5%8.5%
Interest expense0.03.08.3
Pre-tax income5361,596988-66.4%
Income tax229462-1,589-50.4%
Effective tax rate42.7%28.9%-160.8%
Net income3071,1342,578-72.9%
Net margin2.7%12.3%32.1%
Diluted EPS$0.40$1.60$3.64-75.0%
$ million except per share.
Read moreFree cash flow is operating cash flow less capital expenditure; the effective tax rate is income tax over pre-tax income; margins are the line over revenue. Gross profit is revenue less cost of revenue, and operating income is revenue less the company's own total costs, where the statement does not print those lines. Those four are arithmetic on the filed numbers; everything else is as filed. Money is in $ million as the company files it, or in $ billion by the switch above the tables; per share figures and share counts are as they are.

Cash flow

$ millionFY2026FY2025FY2024On the yearLast 8 years
Operating cash flow4,5533,7163,258+22.5%
Capital expenditure440247157+78.1%
Free cash flow4,1133,4693,101+18.6%
Free cash flow margin35.8%37.6%38.6%
Cash from investing-3,104-2,205-1,510
Cash from financing-1,202-779-1,343
Depreciation and amortisation855343284+149.0%
Share-based compensation1,7741,2951,075+37.0%
Buybacks1,0000.0567
Diluted shares, weighted764m709m708m+7.7%
Shares outstanding at period end815m668m650m+22.0%

Balance sheet

$ millionFY2026FY2025FY2024On the yearLast 8 years
Shareholders' equity27,4927,8245,170+251.4%
Debt1,7740.0964
Operating lease liabilities726338380+114.7%
Other liabilities18,46815,41413,477+19.8%
Total liabilities and equity48,46023,57619,991+105.5%
Fixed assets523387361+35.0%
Goodwill22,0104,5673,350+382.0%
Intangible assets7,017763375+820.0%
Investments5,3926,1905,217-12.9%
Cash and equivalents2,5142,2691,535+10.8%
Receivables3,6292,9652,619+22.4%
Inventory117113116+3.5%
Other assets7,2586,3236,418+14.8%
Total assets48,46023,57619,991+105.5%

10-K for the year ended 31 July 2026, filed 10 September 2026: the filing.