Is Cortex XSIAM Emerging as a Core Growth Engine for PANW?

Palo Alto Networks PANW has revolutionized the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) space since the launch of Extended Security Intelligence & Automation Management (XSIAM) in 2022. XSIAM can rightly be called the successor of the SIEM technology.

XSIAM was launched as Palo Alto Networks' advanced SIEM solution, with significant upgrades like AI-driven analytics, automation, enhanced threat detection and response, MITRE ATT&CK Coverage Dashboards and streamlined alert prioritization.

Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex XSIAM is cloud native, whereas the traditional SIEM operates on-prem with siloed data. Traditional SIEM solutions function on signature and correlation rules, while XSIAM uses AI and ML techniques to detect and mitigate risks. Moreover, XSIAM comes with indefinite scalability features as it operates on Palo Alto Networks’ unified cloud platform.

The feature-rich solution gained traction amid rising cyberattacks, resulting in Cortex XSIAM’s annual recurring revenues growing 200% year over year in the fiscal third quarter of 2025. Cortex XSIAM is deployed across more than 270 customers with an Average ARR of $1 million per XSIAM customer. Moreover, the trailing 12-month XSIAM bookings are now close to $1 billion.

For fiscal 2025, Palo Alto Networks expects revenues between $9.17 billion and $9.19 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2025 revenues is pegged at $9.18 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 14.4%.

How Competitors Fare Against Palo Alto Networks

Other cybersecurity players are also enhancing their traditional SIEM offerings. For instance, CrowdStrike CRWD offers Falcon Next-Gen SIEM with features like fast search, AI integration, a cloud-native offering with scalability of up to one petabyte of data ingestion per day. CrowdStrike, in its first-quarter 2026 results, reported that its Next-Gen SIEM ARR grew by more than 100% on a year-over-year basis.

International Business Machines IBM is also enhancing its SIEM capabilities with the introduction of QRadar SIEM Suite, which is cloud native and has added features of XDR, SOAR, and threat detection. The solution seamlessly integrates with IBM Security services, reducing barriers to adoption.

As the traditional SIEM market is getting backdated and under-equipped to handle advanced cyber threats, companies like International Business Machines, CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks are upgrading their offerings. The total addressable market for XSIAM or Next-Gen SIEM is large enough to accommodate the growth of multiple players. This is the reason why Cortex XSIAM might become the growth engine for PANW.

Palo Alto Networks’ Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of Palo Alto Networks have gained 7.9% year to date compared with the Zacks Security industry’s growth of 19.9%.

From a valuation standpoint, PANW trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 12.72X, lower than the industry’s average of 14.52X.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PANW’s fiscal 2025 and 2026 earnings estimates implies growth of 15.14% and 11.1%, respectively. The estimates for fiscal 2025 earnings have been revised upward in the past 30 days, while the 2026 earnings remained unchanged for the past 60 days.

PANW 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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