Investing in Cybersecurity Stocks in 2026

Cybersecurity spending has soared in recent years. Organizations have faced new security challenges as cloud computing and remote work have become essential and widely used business tools. As a result, many cybersecurity stocks were top performers during the COVID-19 pandemic, boosted by strong demand for next-gen security software.

A bear market in 2022 clobbered some of the highest-flying stocks, followed by a wide range of shifting results. However, cybersecurity stocks often bounce back quickly from sudden market challenges, and the industry remains a top investment theme for the decade.

The company's highly profitable platform has helped it acquire more than a dozen smaller cloud-native businesses in the past few years. As a result, Palo Alto Networks has given its security operations a serious makeover.

Management predicts double-digit percentage revenue growth in the years ahead for its next-gen security portfolio geared for the cloud era. This steady growth and market leadership helped make its stock one of the best performers among cybersecurity companies in the post-COVID-19 era.

Palo Alto Networks is the largest pure-play cybersecurity operation in terms of revenue and market cap. Now also a leading cloud security provider, this legacy business is highly competitive in the cybersecurity industry. Shares trade for a relative value compared to its younger, high-flying, cloud-native rivals.

2. CrowdStrike Holdings

As a cloud-native software company, CrowdStrike Holdings provides endpoint security -- protection for devices such as laptops, PCs, smartphones, and any other device connected to a network. Because it's cloud-based, CrowdStrike is particularly well suited for supporting remote work.

CrowdStrike's software uses machine learning to detect security breaches and hunt down threats. It's also easy to deploy to the millions of people working from home and the billions of machines connected to the internet.

The company has steadily expanded the number of modules on its platform to better serve its customers. It also has new integration agreements with other tech companies to ensure data protection consistency across an organization's entire IT infrastructure.

The premium-priced stock was hit hard in 2022, and its security network suffered a painful outage in July 2024. CrowdStrike's sales have been booming nonetheless, and the artificial intelligence (AI)-driven stock rose 16% in 2024 despite the outage.

The company is also highly profitable in terms of free cash flow. In an increasingly mobile world with more devices continually coming online, CrowdStrike is poised to continue growing at a brisk rate.

3. Fortinet

Fortinet, another legacy security software provider, is also one of the world's largest cybersecurity companies by revenue and market cap. Like its peer Palo Alto Networks, it has maintained double-digit percentage growth and is highly profitable. But unlike Palo Alto Networks' acquisition spree, Fortinet has invested in its organic development of cloud security to remain competitive.

One of its developments is a software-based internet security product being built and deployed with one of Europe's leading telecom providers, Telefónica (NYSE:TEF). In August 2025, the company also announced a partnership with Singapore's Quantum Engineering Programme to develop next-gen security for quantum computing.

Fortinet is also a top provider of firewalls. Its best-in-class hardware continues generating more revenue as many organizations turn to Fortinet for help building new data centers and 5G mobile networks. For investors seeking strongly profitable sales growth, Fortinet stands out as one of the top security stocks on the market.

4. Zscaler

Zscaler, another cloud-native security vendor, works in tandem with endpoint security services to help keep data secure. The company has been increasing its sales rapidly and is another of the largest pure-play cybersecurity stocks as measured by market cap. Zscaler continues to deliver profitable revenue growth.

Zscaler started with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product designed for network protection in the modern cloud computing era. It has since added new internet security and end-user monitoring products.

End-user monitoring is increasingly valuable with so many people now working remotely. With global spending on cloud computing expected to exceed $1 trillion annually this decade, Zscaler is poised to profit from a massive secular growth trend.

5. Okta

Okta is a pioneer of identity and access management, which rethinks traditional security by using zero-trust architecture. This type of identity management constantly requires user verification before allowing access to data and applications.

In an increasingly mobile and cloud-based world, Okta's identity management software has been in high demand. Businesses often have a complicated web of stakeholders, including employees, third-party contractors, suppliers, and customers.

Okta is a leader in this branch of security. However, a cyberattack in January 2022 affected two of its largest customers, accelerating the stock's decline during the inflation-driven bear market. Even so, Okta remains in long-term growth mode as new customers adopt its software to manage identity and access security.

6. SentinelOne

SentinelOne is another recent pure-play cybersecurity company to be publicly listed. Its initial public offering (IPO) in June 2021 raised $1.2 billion in cash and valued the company at $10 billion, making SentinelOne's IPO the largest ever for a cybersecurity company at the time.

SentinelOne is also making steady progress toward turning a profit. It operates a cloud-based endpoint security platform, which puts it in direct competition with CrowdStrike. Its ability to automatically detect and resolve cybersecurity threats is well received in the market.

It's also been steadily expanding its platform's capabilities with new modules that include cloud-based security and data monitoring. Data analytics software is a large, fast-growing segment of the tech world, which bodes well for Datadog. Elastic (ESTC +3.28%) and Dynatrace (DT +4.21%) are two other promising software makers to consider in this space.

2. Akamai

As a content delivery network (CDN), Akamai ensures that data arrives securely at its intended destination. With the amount of data traveling across the internet steadily on the rise, CDNs are becoming increasingly important.

More people than ever are using the web for everything from entertainment to work. To bolster its network security offerings and protect its customers from ransomware attacks, Akamai acquired several smaller security specialists from 2022 to 2024.

CDNs are internet infrastructures that maintain the internet "freeway" on which data travels. Akamai is a leader in this sector and also a developer of edge computing technology, which pulls data away from centralized data centers and brings it closer to end-users.

Cloudflare (NET +1.96%) and Fastly (NYSE:FSLY), which are newer CDN providers, have a sharper focus on edge computing and are competitors to Akamai worth considering.

2. Amplify Cybersecurity ETF

Also notable in this sector is the Amplify Cybersecurity ETF (HACK +1.24%). Holding 26 stocks today, the ETF invests in many relatively small companies in the cybersecurity industry. The fund manages $2.2 billion in assets and has an expense ratio of 0.6%.

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