Wedbush Expresses Bullishness on Cybersecurity Sector; Names Top Picks; Boosts Price Targets

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives believes the cyber security sector is poised to have a full year ahead with a solid Q1 earnings season despite jitters around Fed tapering and rates rising.

Ives considers cyber security as a “safety blanket tech sector” in a Category 5 storm. While investors will worry about valuations on hyper-growth names in the near term, the analyst’s checks over the last month have been the strongest for the cyber security sector in a decade, with a further uptick seen in large, seven-figure deal flow in the field.

Wedbush’s top 2 Cyber Security picks for 2022 are Tenable Holdings Inc. and Palo Alto Networks Inc. Ives expects a plethora of cyber deals in the year ahead from both strategic cloud stalwarts and financial buyers.

Ives also believes the Biden Administration Cyber Security Executive Order laser-focused on the troubling trend of cyber-attacks and has catalyzed more spending on the federal front in the field.

Given Ives’ increasing bullish checks on the cyber security space, he adjusted price targets higher for a handful of its favorite Outperform cyber names.

He raised Palo Alto Networks Inc. price target from $630 to $660 (5 percent upside), Qualys Inc. PT from $146 to $160 (7.3 percent upside), Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. PT from $142 to $155 (8 percent upside), CyberArk Software Ltd. PT from $180 to $195 (11.5 percent upside), and Fortinet Inc. PT from $350 to $370 (11 percent upside).

By Anusuya Lahiri 

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