Cyber stocks PANW, DDOG, 3 others to watch amid Russia-Ukraine crisis

The following are five cybersecurity stocks worth exploring amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Russia is reportedly waging a hybrid battle involving both artillery and cyber warfare. Ukraine on Wednesday said its public services were severely affected due to cyberattacks.  

The US lawmakers also have warned American companies to be on high alert for possible retaliatory cyberattacks. Former White House chief information officer Theresa Payton has advised companies to secure their accounts if they experience repeated login failures.  

Cybersecurity stocks may gain traction on this backdrop as companies would want to ramp up their internet security. Here we discuss five cyber stocks that may gain from these events.

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CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD)

 Closing price on February 23, 2022: US$161.83

One year return: -25%

YTD return: -18.40%

The Sunnyvale, California-based CrowdStrike is one of the largest cybersecurity vendors globally. It specializes in endpoint protection, threat hunting, and attack remediation.  

The company was founded in 2011 and went public in 2019. CrowdStrike has a current market capitalization of US$37.11 billion.

 It will announce its fourth-quarter and full-year results on March 9, 2022.

For the quarter ended October 31, 2021, its revenue was US$380 million compared to US$232 million a year ago. The net loss attributable to the company was US$50.5 million or US$0.22 per share diluted versus a net loss of US$24.5 million or US$0.11 diluted per share in Q3, 2020.

 The stock price moved between US$298.48 and US$150.02 in the last 52 weeks. 

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Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW)

Closing price on February 23, 2022: US$477.61

One year return: 29.22%

YTD return: -12.24% 

Palo Alto is a pure-play cybersecurity vendor. It sells security subscriptions and security appliances and supports enterprises, service providers, and government entities. Its products include firewall appliances, endpoint protection, cloud security, and cybersecurity analytics.  

It has a market capitalization of US$47.12 billion. 

For the second quarter ended January 31, 2022, its revenue grew 30% YoY to US$1.3 billion. The company incurred a net loss of US$93.5 million or US$0.95 per share diluted compared to a net loss of US$142.3 million or US$1.48 per share diluted in the same quarter a year ago.  

The PANW stock traded in the range of US$572.67 to US$311.56 in one year.

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Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ: QLYS)

Closing price on February 23, 2022: US$111.19

One year return: 9.83%

YTD return: -18.62%

Qualys Inc provides cloud-based security and compliance solutions to enterprises, small- and medium businesses, and government entities. The solutions enable customers to collect and analyze IT security data and recommend actions. Qualys is based in Foster City, California.

The company has a market capitalization of US$4.34 billion. The P/E ratio is 62.12, and the forward P/E for one year is 66.98.

 For the full year ended December 31, 2021, Qualys reported a 13% YoY increase in revenue to US$411.2 million. Its net income was US$71.0 million or US$1.77 per share diluted in the same period. In fiscal 2020, its net income was US$91.6 million or US$2.25 per share diluted.

The QLYS stock traded in the range of US$142.94 to US$90.26 in 52 weeks.

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Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT)

Closing price on February 23, 2022: US$284.51

One year return: 67.50% 

YTD return: -14.6% 

Fortinet is also a cybersecurity vendor and sells products, support, and services to small businesses, enterprises, and government entities. This Sunnyvale, California-based company earned 38% of its revenue from products and 62% from services in 2021. 

The company has a market capitalization of US$46.52 billion. Its P/E ratio is 78.59. 

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, its revenue grew 29% YoY to US$3.34 billion. Its net income came in at US$606.8 million or US$3.63 per share diluted, with an operating margin of 19% in 2021, compared to US$488.5 million or US$2.91 per share diluted for FY 2020.  

The stock traded in the price range of US$371.77 to US$161.13 in one year.

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Source: Pixabay

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Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG)

Closing price on February 23, 2022: US$149.44      

One year return: 50.40%

YTD return: - 8.78%

The New York-based Datadog is a cloud-native company. It analyzes machine data. Its platform can ingest and analyze large amounts of data in real-time and enable clients to use it for different business applications.

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, the technology company posted a 70% increase in revenue to US$1.03 billion YoY. Its net loss was US$20.75 million or US$0.07 per share diluted. The company expects revenue to be between US$1.51 billion and US$1.53 billion in fiscal 2022.   

Its market capitalization is US$46.62 billion. DDOG traded in the range of US$199.68 to US$69.73 in 52 weeks.

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Bottomline

Analysts foresee increased spending in mitigating APT (advanced-persistent-threat), driven by concerns over possible Russian cyberattacks. The cyber sector may grow by 20% in 2022, they say. The global markets are currently highly volatile. Hence, investors should carefully analyze the companies and the broader market before investing in the stock market.

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