Comparing Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) & CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) and CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Risk & Volatility

Palo Alto Networks has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CrowdStrike has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Palo Alto Networks	2	11	28	0	2.63
CrowdStrike	1	18	26	0	2.56

Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus target price of $211.52, suggesting a potential upside of 14.81%. CrowdStrike has a consensus target price of $464.37, suggesting a potential upside of 11.20%. Given Palo Alto Networks’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Palo Alto Networks is more favorable than CrowdStrike.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

79.8% of Palo Alto Networks shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.2% of CrowdStrike shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of Palo Alto Networks shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of CrowdStrike shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Palo Alto Networks	12.30%	17.66%	5.56%
CrowdStrike	-4.17%	0.43%	0.17%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Palo Alto Networks	$9.22 billion	13.32	$1.13 billion	$1.60	115.14
CrowdStrike	$3.95 billion	26.33	-$19.27 million	($0.69)	-605.22

Palo Alto Networks has higher revenue and earnings than CrowdStrike. CrowdStrike is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Palo Alto Networks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Palo Alto Networks beats CrowdStrike on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention. In addition, the company offers cloud security, secure access, security operations, and threat intelligence and security consulting; professional services, including architecture design and planning, implementation, configuration, and firewall migration; education services, such as certifications, as well as online and in-classroom training; and support services. It sells its products and services through its channel partners, as well as directly to medium to large enterprises, service providers, and government entities operating in various industries, including education, energy, financial services, government entities, healthcare, Internet and media, manufacturing, public sector, and telecommunications. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

About CrowdStrike

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. provides cybersecurity solutions in the United States and internationally. Its unified platform offers cloud-delivered protection of endpoints, cloud workloads, identity, and data. The company offers corporate endpoint and cloud workload security, managed security, security and vulnerability management, IT operations management, identity protection, SIEM and log management, threat intelligence, data protection, security orchestration, automation and response and AI powered workflow automation, and securing generative AI workload services. It primarily sells subscriptions to its Falcon platform and cloud modules. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.