A few examples will suffice – that identity theft spiked during the pandemic crisis, with the 1.4 million reports to the Federal Trade Commission doubling the 2019 numbers; that on average, each data breach in 2020 incurred costs of $3.86 million; and that, by the year 2025, cybercrimes are projected to cost the global economy some $10.5 trillion per year.
The lack of protection is mirrored in careless use; only 5% of companies’ folders – just the ordinary information folders used in every computer memory – have any sort of proper data protection.
Cybersecurity is a huge market, meeting an essential need in today’s digital society, the market for cybersecurity services and products is predicted to see a compound annual growth rate approaching 12.5% for the next several years, to reach $403 billion by 2027.
Using the TipRanks platform, we’ve looked up three cybersecurity stocks that have attracted recent notice from Wall Street’s analyst corps.
The company aims to provide secure internet use, so that customers can use the existing internet as a network – safely.
The company’s cash flows improved dramatically over the past year; in the recent Q2, operating cash flow increased from $5.4 million last year to $30.4 million, while free cash flow rose from a negative $1.9 million to $18 million.
The company announced in April that it will be entering into an acquisition agreement with the cloud security posture management company Cloudneeti, a move that will make Zscaler’s cloud security platform available to Cloudneeti’s existing customer base.
Walkley is no outlier in his bullish take on Zscaler; the company has a Strong Buy rating from the analyst consensus, based on 20 reviews with a 15 to 5 breakdown between Buys and Holds.
Crowdstrike has, in recent years, been involved in after-the-fact investigations of several high-profile cybersecurity breaches, including the Sony hack of 2014 and the hacks of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election cycle.
On the financial end, the company’s top line rose 74% year-over-year in the recent fiscal 2021 Q4, from $152.1 million to $264.9 million.
In September of last year, it completed an acquisition of Preempt Security, which provides Zero Trust and conditional access tech for threat prevention.
This company’s strong, sustained growth has impressed Needham analyst Alex Henderson, rated 5 stars by TipRanks, who says, “We think investors will be rewarded for buying and holding onto these shares.
There is broad agreement on Wall Street with Henderson’s outlook, and Crowdstrike has earned 15 recent positive reviews – out of 18 published – to back its Strong Buy consensus rating.
Last up, FireEye, has been in the cybersecurity business since 2004 and is another of Silicon Valley’s large-cap tech firms. FireEye provides both software and hardware for protection against cyberattacks, along with investigative services, malware protection, and IT security risk analysis.
Starting in November, the company was on an upswing, announcing its acquisition of Respond Software in a transaction valued at $186 million, paid in both cash and stock.
The cyberattack against this leading cybersecurity firm was carried out, according to FireEye, by a nation-state, and the hackers got away with a number of cybersecurity software tools.
At the top line, revenue was up 10% year-over-year, coming in ahead of the consensus estimate by $9.3 million to reach $246 million.
According to Catharine Trebnick, of Colliers Securities, FireEye’s success is based on the ongoing threat of cybersecurity attacks in the current digital environment.
The stock’s 6 recent ratings include 3 Buys, 2 Holds, and 1 Sell, making the analyst consensus view a Moderate Buy.