Palo Alto Networks (PANW 2.10%) is one of the top names in the cybersecurity industry, and its stock has turned out to be a fruitful investment over the past two years. Share prices are up 157% during this period, beating the 78% gains registered by the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector index.
The stock's impressive jump has brought its market capitalization to $123 billion. More importantly, Palo Alto stock seems capable of heading higher in the future as well, thanks to the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the cybersecurity market.
The company's revenue pipeline has been improving as customers begin to use more of its AI-specific tools. This was evident from the 20% year-over-year growth in Palo Alto's remaining performance obligations (RPO) in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (which ended on Oct. 31, 2024) to $12.6 billion, which was faster than the 14% jump in its revenue to $2.1 billion.
RPO is the total value of a company's contracts that are yet to be fulfilled, so its impressive growth points toward better times ahead for Palo Alto. Not surprisingly, analysts expect the company's earnings growth to accelerate going forward, increasing to 13% in the next fiscal year, followed by a 17% increase in the following one.
Data by YCharts.
However, there are two other companies that are close behind Palo Alto as far as the market cap is concerned, and they have the potential to deliver faster growth than the cybersecurity specialist. Let's take a closer look at these two names and check why they could overtake Palo Alto's market cap within the next two years.
1. Marvell Technology
With a market cap of $108 billion, Marvell Technology (MRVL -3.71%) is not far behind Palo Alto. As it turns out, Marvell is expected to clock much faster earnings growth than the cybersecurity giant, which could help it exceed Palo Alto's market cap.
Consensus estimates project Marvell's earnings to grow by an impressive 79% in fiscal year 2026 (which will begin next month) to $2.79 per share (it grew just 3% in fiscal 2025 to $1.56 per share). More importantly, Marvell is expected to maintain its impressive momentum in fiscal 2027 as well, with an estimated increase of 33% in its bottom line.
Data by YCharts.
AI is set to play a central role in helping Marvell clock such healthy earnings growth. The company's data center business has taken off in recent quarters thanks to the robust demand for its custom AI processors and networking chips. Marvell's data center revenue jumped an impressive 98% year over year in the third quarter of fiscal 2025 (which ended on Nov. 2, 2024) to $1.1 billion.
The company was originally expecting $1.5 billion in AI-related revenue for fiscal 2025, but it now believes that it will exceed that target significantly. That's not surprising, considering that Marvell has strengthened its relationship with a major cloud computing provider in the form of Amazon, which has been utilizing its designs to manufacture custom AI processors.
At the same time, Marvell points out that it will start making custom AI chips for a third customer in 2025. This explains why Marvell estimates that it is on track to exceed its AI revenue forecast of $2.5 billion for fiscal 2026. Even better, Marvell's data center business could continue taking off beyond the next couple of fiscal years as well, given the massive end-market opportunity available in the AI custom chip market.
Finally, Marvell is relatively more attractive, with a forward earnings multiple of 46 as compared to Palo Alto's forward earnings multiple of 55. So, a combination of faster bottom-line growth over the next couple of years along with a more attractive valuation are the reasons why Marvell has the ability to become a more valuable company than Palo Alto Networks.
2. Lam Research
Semiconductor manufacturing equipment supplier Lam Research (LRCX 1.30%) is another company that's close to Palo Alto's valuation with a market cap of nearly $109 billion. Though the past year has been a difficult one for Lam Research investors, as its shares have risen just 3% during this period, the next couple of years are likely to be much better.
That's because a recovery in semiconductor equipment spending is likely to drive strong growth for Lam. Industry association SEMI estimates that sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment increased by 6.5% in 2024 to $113 billion. A slightly stronger growth of 7% is expected in 2025 to $121 billion, followed by a much better jump of 15% in 2026 to $139 billion.
This uptick in semiconductor equipment spending over the next two years should rub off positively on Lam's top and bottom lines. It is worth noting that Lam's revenue in its most recent fiscal year (which ended on June 30, 2024) fell by 14% from the previous year to $14.9 billion. However, there was a significant improvement in its performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (which ended on Sept. 29, 2024).
The company's revenue increased 20% from the year-ago period to $4.17 billion. Lam's non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings jumped 25% year over year to $0.86 per share. Lam's guidance of $4.3 billion for the current quarter would bring its revenue for the first half of the fiscal year to $8.47 billion, which would be an increase of 17% from the same period last year.
Consensus estimates project Lam to finish the current fiscal year with $17.3 billion in revenue, a 16% increase over the previous one. Its earnings are expected to increase by 16% to $3.53 per share. More importantly, Lam's bottom line is expected to increase in the mid-teens over the next couple of fiscal years as well.
LRCX EPS Estimates for Current Fiscal Year data by YCharts
The market could reward Lam's strong earnings growth with a higher valuation. The stock currently trades at 26 times trailing earnings and 22 times forward earnings, which makes it significantly cheaper than Palo Alto. Given that Lam's earnings growth over the next couple of years is expected to be in line with what Palo Alto is expected to deliver, the former looks like a better bet considering its valuation.
Moreover, if Lam starts trading in line with the tech-laden Nasdaq-100 index's earnings multiple of 32 in a couple of years because of its improving growth prospects, the stock could soar significantly and overtake Palo Alto's market cap.
