We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Latest Lightning Round: Top 10 Stocks to Watch. Since Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) ranks 3rd on the list, it deserves a deeper look.
Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC talked about the latest rebound in the market.
“Never get tired of all-time highs. We are experiencing a time for the market which is what I said would happen when the Fed starts cutting rates when the economy is still solid.”
Cramer said that the key reason the market roared to highs was strong earnings from top banks. He said since the Fed’s interest rate cuts have just started, investors believe maybe the “best is yet to come.”
Jim Cramer wondered whether this strong performance trend would be a “pattern” in this earnings season.
“We will find out soon enough. We will see if the positive action will be sustained.”
Cramer recommended investors to “listen to the calls” this earning season and “ponder a moment, and only then should you pull the trigger.”
“We are at the beginning of one of the year’s four reporting periods. Probably the most exciting. I can’t believe I still get fired up, but man, am I ever.”
For this article, we watched the latest episodes of Jim Cramer’s ‘Lightning Round’ segment on CNBC and picked 10 stocks he was talking about. With each company, we have mentioned its hedge fund sentiment. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 66
When asked about Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a latest program, Cramer said the stock is “sensational.”
DA Davidson also started covering the stock with a Buy rating and added it to its ‘Best of Breed Bison’ category of stocks.
DA Davidson’s Rudy Kessinger thinks Palo Alto Networks Inc’s (NASDAQ:PANW) three platforms will result in vendor consolidation which would be better than other companies. They believe Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) has so far captured only 7% of the market which could reach a whopping $200 billion.
Palo Alto Networks Inc’s (NASDAQ:PANW) biggest strength is its Prisma Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) product, which generated about 50% growth in the fiscal third quarter year over year. Another growth catalyst for Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is Thunderdome Defense Information System Agency’s zero-trust network architecture.
Parnassus Growth Equity Fund stated the following regarding Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been a profitable position for the portfolio. Given its elevated valuation, we decided to sell it to fund the purchase of Workday, where we see greater opportunity and a clearer story of margin expansion potential.”
Overall, Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) ranks 3rd on Insider Monkey’s list titled Jim Cramer Latest Lightning Round: Top 10 Stocks to Watch. While we acknowledge the potential of Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than PANW but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
