Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Hits New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $354.00 to $267.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Zscaler traded as low as $161.50 and last traded at $160.5010, with a volume of 2105144 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $168.99.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Loop Capital set a $320.00 target price on Zscaler in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Zscaler from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Zscaler in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Zscaler from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Zscaler from $350.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 2,843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.82, for a total value of $656,221.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 347,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,292,352.74. The trade was a 0.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Raj Judge sold 3,438 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.82, for a total transaction of $793,559.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 70,394 shares in the company, valued at $16,248,343.08. The trade was a 4.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,350 shares of company stock valued at $4,471,509. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Zscaler News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Zscaler this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zscaler and Bharti Airtel launched an AI & Cyber Threat Research Center in India, expanding ZS’s local presence, channel engagement and potential enterprise/government pipeline in a fast-growing market. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Zscaler’s Z‑Flex bookings jumped ~70% sequentially to $175M in Q1 FY26 — a sign of larger, multi‑year deals that could boost revenue visibility and margin leverage over time. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management is pushing an AI security suite to address rising enterprise AI risks — product innovation that supports upsell opportunities and differentiates ZS’s platform approach. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: India is debating new cyber rules amid growing AI-driven threats; regulatory change could increase enterprise security spending but also introduce compliance complexity. This is a macro/regulatory factor to monitor for regional demand. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan cut its price target for ZS from $354 to $267 but kept an Overweight rating — a sizable PT reduction that tempers upside expectations while still signaling conviction in the name. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparisons with peers (e.g., Qualys) highlight valuation and execution tradeoffs: ZS’s faster growth vs. some peers’ steadier margins and cheaper multiples — useful context for relative positioning. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst note (Seeking Alpha summary) warns Cloudflare is taking share on RPO growth and net retention, and that Palo Alto’s M&A momentum intensifies competition — heightening investor fear of share loss and margin pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Truist lowered expectations for Zscaler, adding to a string of cautious analyst notes that have pressured sentiment despite recent beat-and-raise results. Article Title

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Binnacle Investments Inc acquired a new stake in Zscaler during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Zscaler by 145.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 86 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Zscaler during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Zscaler during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zscaler during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 46.45% of the company’s stock.

Zscaler Stock Down 5.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $25.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -614.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 344.49 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day moving average of $206.73 and a 200 day moving average of $259.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.11. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 1.45% and a negative return on equity of 0.12%. The firm had revenue of $788.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $773.86 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 25.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Zscaler has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.780-3.820 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.890-0.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Zscaler, Inc. will post -0.1 EPS for the current year.

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.