PANW's SASE ARR Hits $1.3B: Is Prisma Browser the Key Driver?

Palo Alto Networks PANW is witnessing strong growth in its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) business. In fiscal 2025, SASE’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) reached about $1.3 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 35%.

A big part of this growth came from the Prisma Access Browser. Palo Alto Networks sold more than three million browser licenses in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, bringing the total to over six million seats. Notable deals included a $3 million transaction with a U.S. pharmaceutical company that purchased more than 80,000 Prisma Browser seats. Palo Alto Networks now has more than 6,300 SASE customers, including one-third of the Fortune 500, which shows strong adoption among large enterprises.

Companies are increasingly moving their work into browsers, making it important to replace consumer browsers with secure, enterprise-grade options. To capitalize on this opportunity, Palo Alto Networks recently introduced Prisma SASE 4.0, which adds newer capabilities to the Prisma Browser.

The update adds real-time in-browser protection against evasive threats that traditional web security tools cannot stop. Prisma SASE 4.0 also includes AI-powered data classification, which aims to improve accuracy while identifying sensitive information. It also includes Private App Security, which aims at protecting critical business applications.

Moreover, management expects secure browsers to become a standard part of SASE deployments. With strong adoption and new features in Prisma SASE 4.0, Prisma Browser can shape up to be a key driver of Palo Alto Networks’ SASE growth in the coming years. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PANW’s fiscal 2026 total revenues is pegged at $10.42 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 13%.

How Competitors Fare Against PANW

Zscaler ZS and Fortinet FTNT are key rivals to Palo Alto Networks in the SASE space.

Zscaler is also expanding into browser-based security. ZS offers cloud-native secure access through its ZIA and ZPA platforms. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, Zscaler saw continued demand from customers replacing legacy VPNs with its zero-trust architecture.

Fortinet is growing fast, driven by the rising adoption of its FortiSASE platform. During the second quarter of 2025, Fortinet’s SASE ARR grew 22% year over year. Fortinet stands out by delivering all core SASE capabilities within a single operating system. Fortinet also offers Sovereign SASE, a tailored solution for large enterprises and service providers that require full on-premises or in-country control of their data.

PANW’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of Palo Alto Networks have gained 8.5% year to date compared with the Zacks Security industry’s growth of 10.4%.

PANW YTD Price Return Performance

From a valuation standpoint, Palo Alto Networks trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 12.31X, slightly higher than the industry’s average of 12.23X.

PANW Forward 12-Month P/S Ratio

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Palo Alto Networks’ fiscal 2026 and 2027 earnings implies year-over-year growth of 12.9% and 13.6%, respectively. The estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 earnings have been revised upward over the past 30 days.

Palo Alto Networks currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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