Despite bullish momentum for the broader market, Palo Alto Networks<\/strong> (NASDAQ: PANW)<\/span> stock got hit with a substantial pullback in Wednesday’s trading. The cybersecurity company’s share price closed out the day down 6.8% and had been off as much as 10%. The S&P 500<\/strong> rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite<\/strong> jumped 0.7%.<\/p>\n Palo Alto Networks published its fourth-quarter results after the market closed yesterday and actually delivered sales and earnings that came in above Wall Street’s targets. Unfortunately, investors weren’t satisfied with management’s forward guidance.<\/p>\n Where to invest $1,000 right now?<\/strong> Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks<\/strong> to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor.\u00a0See the stocks \u00bb<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Palo Alto made a non-GAAP (adjusted) profit of $1.03 per share on sales of $2.59 billion in the second quarter of its current fiscal year — which ended Jan. 31. For comparison, the average analyst estimate had called for adjusted earnings of $0.94 per share and revenue of $2.58 billion.<\/p>\n Palo Alto Networks continued to see strong expansion for its next-generation security segment, with sales increasing 33% year over year to reach $6.3 billion. The performance pushed overall revenue up 14.6% year over year, and margins for the period were also stronger than anticipated. On the other hand, management’s forward guidance suggests that margins could soften in the remainder of the year.<\/p>\n For the current quarter, Palo Alto is targeting adjusted earnings per share between $0.78 and $0.80 — significantly below the average analyst estimate’s target for per-share earnings of $0.92. On the other hand, sales are projected to be between $2.941 billion and $2.945 billion — far above Wall Street’s previous target for sales of $2.6 billion.<\/p>\n The trend persists with the company’s full-year guidance. Palo Alto expects to post adjusted earnings between $3.65 and $3.70 on sales between $11.28 billion and $11.31 billion. Meanwhile, the average analyst estimate had called for adjusted earnings per share of $3.85 on revenue of $10.5 billion. With projected earnings coming in well below expectations despite sales being far better than anticipated, investors are reevaluating Palo Alto’s long-term earnings outlook.<\/p>\n Before you buy stock in Palo Alto Networks, consider this:<\/p>\n The Motley Fool Stock Advisor<\/em> analyst team just identified what they believe are the\u00a010 best stocks<\/strong> for investors to buy now\u2026 and Palo Alto Networks wasn\u2019t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Consider when Netflix<\/strong> made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,\u00a0you\u2019d have $415,256<\/strong>!* Or when Nvidia<\/strong> made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you\u2019d have $1,133,904<\/strong>!*<\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s worth noting\u00a0Stock Advisor\u2019s<\/em> total average return is 889% \u2014 a market-crushing outperformance compared to 193% for the S&P 500.\u00a0Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with\u00a0Stock Advisor<\/em>, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n See the 10 stocks \u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n *Stock Advisor returns as of February 18, 2026. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>