AI Agents Sound Cybersecurity Alarm: Which Has More Upside Potential Among PANW, CRWD, OKTA, and ZS?

TradingKey - In July 2026, OpenAI discovered during an internal security assessment that some AI agents bypassed internet isolation measures and connected to OpenAI's internal research infrastructure and certain Hugging Face systems via unauthorized channels.

An independent investigation revealed that approximately 700 agents were further involved in attacks targeting Hugging Face. This incident highlights new security risks brought about by AI agents' autonomous execution, internet connectivity, and tool calling. Against this backdrop, identity, endpoint, cloud, and data security have become the focus of market attention.

As of the close on September 4 ET, CrowdStrike (CRWD) closed at $213.10, Palo Alto Networks (PANW) closed at $333.26, Okta (OKTA) closed at $170.60, and Zscaler (ZS) closed at $169.80.

In terms of year-to-date performance, both CRWD and PANW have gained about 80%, OKTA has surged over 95%, while ZS has fallen about 25%, significantly lagging behind. The four companies have different business focuses: CRWD focuses on endpoint security and security operations, PANW covers network, cloud security, and security operations, OKTA focuses on identity security, and ZS centers on Zero Trust and cloud security. With AI agents sounding the security alarm, which of these four stocks holds greater upside potential?

CrowdStrike: Strong Growth, but High Valuation

CrowdStrike reported its second-quarter fiscal 2027 financial results on August 26, with revenue reaching $1.471 billion, up 26% year-over-year; ARR reached $5.84 billion, up 25% year-over-year; net new ARR reached $333 million, up 51% year-over-year; and ending ARR for Falcon Flex exceeded $2.29 billion, up 101% year-over-year. The company also raised the midpoint of its fiscal 2027 net new ARR growth guidance to 34%.

CrowdStrike is expanding product consolidation across endpoint, cloud, identity, and security operations through its Falcon platform. Falcon Flex allows customers to flexibly adopt multiple security modules under a single contract, helping drive deeper platform adoption and customer retention.

Following the earnings release, CrowdStrike's stock price surged over 20% at one point. Looking at a longer timeframe, CRWD has gained nearly 80% year-to-date as of September 4. However, CrowdStrike currently trades at a price-to-sales ratio of around 40x, above the industry average, indicating that the market has paid a high premium for its future growth.

Truist Securities recently raised its price target for CRWD from $245 to $300, while Argus Research raised its target from $230 to $425. Argus's price target is significantly higher than its peers, sparking considerable market debate. According to analyst consensus, the average price target is around $230.

Palo Alto Networks: Strong Results, Focus on Growth Sustainability

Palo Alto Networks reported its fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 financial results on September 1, with revenue reaching $3.41 billion, up 34% year-over-year; NGS ARR reached $9.1 billion, up 63% year-over-year; RPO reached $21.2 billion, up 34% year-over-year; and adjusted EPS was $1.02, beating market expectations of $0.98.

The company expects fiscal 2027 revenue to be $14.1 billion to $14.2 billion, representing year-over-year growth of approximately 23% to 24%, and announced the acquisition of AI-native platform Console to further expand its footprint in AI security and security operations.

PANW fell 5.24% to $362.09 on September 1; the earnings report was released after the market close, and the stock continued to weaken in after-hours trading. As of the close on September 4, PANW was up more than 80% year-to-date, with a market capitalization of approximately $295.1 billion, making it the largest among the four companies.

Morgan Stanley raised its price target from $387 to $394, while Jefferies set a price target of $450. The key for PANW moving forward lies in whether its AI security and cloud security businesses can maintain their current growth rates.

Okta: Clear Positioning in AI Identity Security

Okta reported its second-quarter fiscal 2027 results on August 26, with revenue of $805 million, up 11% year-over-year; cRPO reached $2.585 billion, up 14% year-over-year; and adjusted EPS was $1.05. Meanwhile, the company raised its full-year FY2027 revenue guidance to $3.216 billion to $3.226 billion.

As AI agents gain access to enterprise systems and data, the importance of authentication, authorization, and entitlement governance has risen further. Okta launched 'Okta for AI Agents,' focusing on the discovery, onboarding, protection, and governance of AI agents, with support for Amazon Bedrock AgentCore.

Needham raised its price target on Okta from $140 to $200, while Goldman Sachs raised its target from $126 to $203. Based on analyst consensus, the average price target is approximately $182.

Okta's advantage lies in its clear positioning in AI identity security, but its 11% revenue growth rate is significantly lower than those of CRWD and PANW.

Zscaler: Q4 Results Beat Expectations, but FY2027 Growth Slowdown Comes Into Focus

Zscaler reported its Q4 and full-year FY2026 financial results after the market close on September 3. Q4 revenue reached $898.2 million, up 24.9% year-over-year, beating market expectations of approximately $877 million; adjusted EPS was $1.19, also exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.09. ARR reached $3.771 billion, up 25% year-over-year, with net new ARR coming in at $246 million; excluding the impact of the Red Canary acquisition, ARR grew 20% year-over-year.

The market is currently focusing more on the FY2027 guidance. The company expects full-year revenue of $3.908 billion to $3.938 billion, representing year-over-year growth of about 16.6% to 17.5%; ARR is projected at $4.396 billion to $4.426 billion, up approximately 16.6% to 17.4% year-over-year, marking a notable slowdown from the roughly 25% growth rate in FY2026. Adjusted EPS is expected to be $4.86 to $4.90.

Strategically, Zscaler continues to expand its presence in AI security, focusing on Agentic AI, Zero Trust, and data security. Currently, AI serves more as a strategic growth direction for the company, and whether it can further translate into revenue growth remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the company announced a restructuring plan to cut about 3% of its workforce, which is expected to incur $30 million to $33 million in restructuring charges, primarily recognized in the first half of FY2027.

Regarding share performance, as of September 4, ZS was down about 25% year-to-date, significantly lagging behind CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks. Following the earnings release, ZS stock initially rallied but subsequently pulled back, continuing to weaken in pre-market trading on September 4, reflecting market concerns over slowing growth in FY2027.

Summary

In the short term, ZS's Q4 results significantly beat expectations, but both revenue and ARR growth for FY2027 dropped to approximately 17%, shifting market focus from "whether results can beat expectations" to "whether growth can reaccelerate." Therefore, while the Q4 performance itself was relatively positive, the growth slowdown may still limit the room for valuation recovery.

In the medium to long term, CRWD's current growth, ARR expansion, and platformization capabilities are particularly prominent; PANW maintains its competitiveness through broader product coverage; ZS's core focus is whether its zero-trust and AI security products can drive business to maintain rapid growth while improving customer acquisition and sales efficiency; OKTA needs to further prove that AI identity security can translate into faster revenue growth.

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