Oppenheimer Has Lowered Expectations for Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Stock Price

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) had its price target cut by investment analysts at Oppenheimer from $345.00 to $280.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 90.49% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on ZS. Barclays set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Zscaler from $330.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Zscaler from $355.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Zscaler from $310.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered their target price on Zscaler from $365.00 to $209.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.37.

Zscaler Price Performance

Zscaler stock opened at $146.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. Zscaler has a 52 week low of $140.56 and a 52 week high of $336.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -349.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 299.64 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $198.92 and a 200-day moving average of $255.06.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $815.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $798.92 million. Zscaler had a positive return on equity of 0.06% and a negative net margin of 2.25%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Zscaler has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.000-1.010 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.990-4.020 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Zscaler will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Zscaler news, EVP Raj Judge sold 3,438 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.82, for a total value of $793,559.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 70,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,248,343.08. The trade was a 4.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Robert Schlossman sold 3,084 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.82, for a total value of $711,848.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 77,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,773,601.64. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 19,350 shares of company stock worth $4,471,509. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Binnacle Investments Inc bought a new stake in shares of Zscaler in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Zscaler by 145.7% in the third quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 86 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Zscaler during the third quarter valued at $26,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in Zscaler during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Zscaler in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.45% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Zscaler

Here are the key news stories impacting Zscaler this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat: adjusted EPS $1.01 vs. $0.89 est., revenue $815.8M vs. ~$799M est., and ARR grew ~25% year/year — signals demand momentum. GlobeNewswire: Q2 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management is pitching AI security growth and new initiatives (AI Guard, agentic security, India AI/Cyber center with Airtel) as durable secular drivers that expand TAM beyond seat-based SaaS. CFO Interview Airtel AI Center
• Neutral Sentiment: Management issued updated forward guidance and commentary (Q3 EPS range and FY EPS range were provided), creating mixed signals that markets are parsing. Earnings Highlights
• Neutral Sentiment: Executives (CEO & CFO) gave interviews and the full call transcript is available — useful for investors wanting detail on churn, acquisitions and how AI monetization will scale. Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Wider GAAP loss and higher spending: the company posted a larger net loss driven by increased sales, marketing and R&D, which pressured investor sentiment. Reuters: Wider Loss
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed/uncertain revenue outlook commentary: some outlets reported the company lowered aspects of its revenue outlook, creating confusion and weighing on the stock despite EPS beats. Benzinga: Revenue Guidance Report
• Negative Sentiment: Broad analyst price‑target cuts today from multiple firms (Canaccord, Morgan Stanley, Oppenheimer, Berenberg, Needham, and others) have amplified selling pressure even as many kept “buy/outperform” stances — the cuts compress perception of near‑term upside. MarketScreener: Analyst Cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: investors appear to be focusing on margin/expense trajectory, competitive pressure and near-term revenue clarity rather than the company’s AI growth story — producing the stock decline. Seeking Alpha: Market Reaction

Zscaler Company Profile

Zscaler is a cloud security company that delivers a cloud-native platform to protect users, applications and data as organizations move away from traditional, network-centric security architectures. The company focuses on a zero trust approach that assumes no implicit trust for users or devices, providing secure access to the internet, SaaS applications and private applications regardless of where users are located. Zscaler positions its services as an alternative to legacy appliances and site-centric VPNs, aiming to simplify security while enabling modern, distributed workforces.

Key offerings are built around the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, a multi-tenant cloud platform that enforces security and access policies in-line.