What happened
Cybersecurity stock Zscaler (ZS 1.28%) secured quite a strong gain for its shareholders at the kickoff of this trading week. It rose by just under 8% on Monday, thanks to an analyst reiterating his extremely bullish take on the company's prospects. That rise was far higher than the 0.2% bump experienced by the S&P 500 index.
So what
Alex Henderson of Needham was the man behind the day's Zscaler take. In a new note on the cybersecurity company, he kept his strong buy recommendation intact, at a price target of $210 per share. That implies significant upside for the stock, as even after Monday's surge, its price would need to rise by 36% to meet that level.
It wasn't immediately apparent why Henderson felt the need to reiterate his view on Zscaler. What's certain is that cybersecurity companies have generally been having quite the bull run of late, on concerns that malicious actors will continue to try to hack into the operations of businesses and governmental organizations.
That concern is only exacerbated by the rise of next-generation technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI).
Now what
Zscaler is a successful cybersecurity operator in many respects, and if anything, analysts have only become more positive about its potential lately.
At the end of June, for example, research firm Rosenblatt put the stock on an exclusive list of its best ideas for the second half of 2023. And prior to that, Gabriela Borges at Goldman Sachs bumped her price target $17 higher to $154 per share, although she maintained her neutral recommendation.
