I'm LongbridgeAI, I can summarize articles.Wedbush analyst Steven Wahrhaftig initiated Buy ratings on CrowdStrike (CRWD), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), and Datadog (DDOG), citing strong growth and cybersecurity demand driven by AI adoption. Price targets are $250 for CRWD, $400 for PANW, and $275 for DDOG. The firm highlights CRWD's Falcon platform dominance, PANW's platformization leadership, and DDOG's accelerating revenue growth in cloud-native observability. Wall Street maintains a Strong Buy consensus for all three stocks.
Wedbush analyst Steven Wahrhaftig initiated coverage on CrowdStrike (CRWD), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), and Datadog (DDOG) with Buy ratings, given their solid growth and a strong demand backdrop. Cybersecurity companies are benefiting from the rising threat of cyberattacks amid growing AI adoption. After trending higher in Friday's pre-market trading, all three stocks were in the red at the time of writing.
Here's Why Wedbush Is Bullish on CRWD Stock
Wahrhaftig assigned CrowdStrike a price target of $250 based on FY29 EV/FCF of 85x and an EV/Revenue multiple of nearly 29x. The analyst highlighted the company's accelerating ARR (annual recurring revenue), solid net new ARR, and revenue growth in Q2 FY27, along with strong margins.
Wahrhaftig also noted the strong demand for CRWD's Falcon platform in AI-native endpoint protection and its multi-year growth potential as it expands into cloud, identity, and security information and event management (SIEM).
The analyst contends that CRWD deserves a higher valuation multiple than PANW, given the company's ability to capitalize on strategic tuck-in acquisitions to drive profitable growth and higher free cash flow. He also expects CrowdStrike to benefit from growing preference of enterprises to consolidate across platform vendors to reduce complexities and minimize spend.
Wedbush Says Buy Palo Alto Stock
Wahrhaftig has a Buy rating on Palo Alto Networks stock with a price target of $400. This price target is based on a 2029 EV/FCF multiple of about 43x and FY29 EV/revenue multiple of nearly 17.5x. The analyst added the stock to Wedbush's Best Ideas List as he believes that the company is well-positioned to boost growth through accretive mergers and acquisitions that add more modules to its platform. The analyst views Palo Alto as the "clearest platformization winner in cyber."
Furthermore, Wahrhaftig believes that Palo Alto is well-positioned to capture the largest share of enterprise cyber spending, driven by its dominance in network security, cloud security, and SecOps, supported by strategic acquisitions. He noted the company's accelerating revenue growth and strong adjusted FCF (free cash flow) margin, which is on track to hit the more than 40% target in FY28.
Wahrhaftig is Optimistic About Datadog's Growth
Wahrhaftig assigned a price target of $275 to Datadog, reflecting a FY28 EV/FCF multiple of about 54x. The analyst believes that this valuation is justified, given the company's accelerating revenue growth of 36% year-over-year in Q2 FY26 compared to 28% in the prior-year quarter and strong margins.
Wahrhaftig also noted that growth in cloud-native and AI-native workloads is boosting demand for observability, positioning Datadog as a leading pure-play provider. He added that the company is investing heavily in research and development (R&D) to expand its product portfolio, adding over 100 new capabilities announced at its DASH 2026 keynote in June. Moreover, Datadog is seeing increased adoption among its existing customer base.
Wall Street's Take on CRWD, PANW, and DDOG
Given solid demand tailwinds, Wall Street has a Strong Buy consensus rating on CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, and Datadog. Currently, the average price target suggests higher upside potential in DDOG stock than in CRWD and PANW.