What happened
Palo Alto (PANW 0.11%) shareholders beat a surging market in November as their stock rose 33% compared to the 11% increase in the S&P 500, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The rally pushed the cybersecurity specialist back into positive territory for the year, up over 20% through early December.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Investors cheered the company's fiscal first-quarter results, which were released in the middle of the month. That report showed a 23% sales boost and strong adjusted cash flow, which management said was tied to Palo Alto's popular new releases.
"Both our firewall transformation and our next-generation security services continue to make great progress," CEO Nikesh Arora said in a press release that also included an upgraded forecast for the rest of the year.
Now what
Palo Alto now sees sales rising by between 20% and 21% this year as enterprises continue to spend freely on software-as-a-service products. But the latest earnings results demonstrate that the business performs at its best while maintaining a steady stream of innovative software launches.
Assuming it continues that streak -- and that global economic conditions don't worsen over the next few months -- Palo Alto looks set to keep expanding its sales base through into 2021.
