After a horrific 2022 in which the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged a stunning 33%, many investors decided it was high time to dump tech stocks, and dump them they did. Legacy technology giants like Alphabet (Google’s parent), Amazon.com, Meta Platforms (the Facebook and Instagram parent) were crushed to lows not seen in years. While some have bounced back, many remain as much as 50% or more below their 52-week highs. These companies have been forced to lay off thousands of workers in an attempt to lower costs and improve earnings, and prospects going forward are tepid in the near term.
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One tech silo that is poised to continue to explode higher is cybersecurity. Every year, hackers and cybercriminals get more sophisticated and force corporations and government agencies to make sure they have the best possible security for their data. The leading companies that dominate cybersecurity software remain among the best tech ideas now. We screened our 24/7 Wall St. cybersecurity stock universe looking for those with Buy ratings and strong positions in the industry. The following six top stocks continue to stand out and look to remain on top in a field that is constantly evolving.

It is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

Crowdstrike

Shares of this cybersecurity giant pulled back in a big way in 2022, after a huge run, and are offering an outstanding entry point. CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD) provides cloud-delivered protection across endpoints and cloud workloads, identity and data. The company offers threat intelligence, managed security services, IT operations management, threat hunting, Zero Trust identity protection and log management.

CrowdStrike primarily sells subscriptions to its Falcon platform and cloud modules through its direct sales team that leverages its network of channel partners.

With its stock down a stunning 50% from highs printed early last year, this preeminent company offers investors one of the best ways to participate in the huge growth proposition cybersecurity offers.

Truist Financial has a $175 price target on Crowdstrike stock. The consensus target is $167.02, and Monday’s $120.65 per share close was up almost 3% on the day.

CyberArk Software

This company has less than a $6 billion market cap, which may make it a prime takeover target. CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR) develops, markets and sells software-based security solutions and services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.

The company’s solutions include the following:

• Privileged Access Manager offers risk-based credential security and session management to protect against attacks involving privileged access
• Vendor Privileged Access Manager combines Privileged Access Manager and Remote Access to provide fast, easy and secure privileged access to third-party vendors
• Endpoint Privilege Manager is a software as a service (SaaS) solution that secures privileges on the endpoint
• Cloud Entitlements Manager is a SaaS solution that reduces risk that arises from excessive privileges by implementing least privilege across cloud environments.

Furthermore, CyberArk’s robust Identity and Access Management as a Services offers adaptive multi-factor authentication (MFA), single sign-on, secure Web sessions, application gateway, identity lifecycle management and directory services, as well as customer identity services providing authentication and authorization services, MFA, directory and user management to enable organizations to provide their customers with easy and secure access to websites and applications.
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Additional offerings include Secrets Manager Credential Providers, to provide and manage the credentials used by third-party solutions, and Secrets Manager Conjur for cloud-native applications.

D.A. Davidson’s $185 target price is higher than the consensus target of $176.44. CyberArk Software stock ended Monday’s session trading at $145.50.

Fortinet

This stock has done well but still offers a reasonably attractive entry point. Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) provides broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions in the Americas, Europe and elsewhere.

The company’s products and services include the following:

• FortiGate hardware and software licenses provide various security and networking functions, including firewall, intrusion prevention, anti-malware, virtual private network, application control, web filtering, anti-spam and wide area network acceleration.
• The FortiSwitch product family offers secure switching solutions for connecting customers to their end devices.
• The FortiAP product family provides secure wireless networking solutions.
• FortiExtender is a hardware appliance.
• The FortiAnalyzer product family offers centralized network logging, analyzing and reporting solutions.
• The FortiManager product family provides centralized network logging, analyzing and reporting solutions.
• The FortiWeb product family provides web application firewall solutions.
• The FortiMail product family includes secure email gateway solutions.
• FortiSandbox technology delivers proactive detection and mitigation services.
• FortiClient provides endpoint protection with pattern-based anti-malware, behavior-based exploit protection, web-filtering and an application firewall.
• FortiAuthenticator is a zero trust access solution.
• FortiGate VM is a network firewall virtual appliance.
• The FortiToken product family is for multi-factor authentication to safeguard systems, assets and data.
• FortiEDR/XDR is an endpoint protection solution that provides both machine-learning anti-malware protection and remediation.

The company provides security subscription, technical support, professional and training services.

Loop Capital has set its target price at $80, though Fortinet stock has a consensus target of just $69.34. Monday’s closing share price was $59.62.

This Wall Street favorite may have the biggest potential upside in the group. Okta Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA) provides identity solutions for enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses, universities, nonprofits and government agencies in the United States and internationally.
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The company offers Okta Identity Cloud, a platform that offers a suite of products and services, such as the following:

• Universal Directory is a cloud-based system of record to store and secure user, application and device profiles for an organization.
• Single Sign-On enables users to access applications in the cloud or on-premise from various devices.
• Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication provides a layer of security for cloud, mobile, web applications and data.
• Lifecycle Management enables IT organizations or developers to manage a user’s identity throughout its lifecycle.
• API Access Management enables organizations to secure APIs.
• Access Gateway enables organizations to extend the Okta Identity Cloud from the cloud to their existing on-premise applications.
• Advanced Server Access secures cloud infrastructure.

Okta also provides Auth0 products, including the following:

• Universal Login allows customers to provide login experience across different applications and devices.
• Attack Protection is a suite of security capabilities that protect from malicious traffics.
• Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication minimizes friction to end users.
• Passwordless authentication enables users to login without a password and supports in various login methods.
• Machine to Machine provides standards-based authentication and authorization.
• Private Cloud allows customers to run a dedicated cloud instance of Auth0.
• Organizations enables customers to have independent configurations, login experiences, and security options.

The company offers customer support, training, and professional services. It sells its products directly to customers through sales force and channel partners.

Okta stock has a $90 target price at Needham. The $81.10 consensus is somewhat closer to Monday’s closing print of $71.64.

Palo Alto Networks

This company continues to be one of the most dominant players in the industry, and it recently crushed earnings expectations. Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW) provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide.

The company offers firewall appliances and software. Panorama is a security management solution for the control of firewall appliances and software deployed on a customer’s network, as well as their instances in public or private cloud environments, as a virtual or a physical appliance. Virtual system upgrades are available as extensions to the virtual system capacity that ships with physical appliances.

Palo Alto Networks also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection and firewall, as well as DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API and SaaS security inline, and threat intelligence and data loss prevention.
In addition, the company offers cloud security, secure access, security operations and threat intelligence and cybersecurity consulting. Its professional services include architecture design and planning, implementation, configuration and firewall migration. Education services include certifications and online and in-classroom training. It also offers support services.
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Palo Alto Networks sells its products and services through its channel partners, as well as directly to medium to large enterprises, service providers and government entities operating in various industries, including education, energy, financial services, government entities, health care, internet and media, manufacturing, public sector and telecommunications.

The $235 Credit Suisse target price compares with a $224.74 consensus target for Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares closed on Monday at $188.51.

Zscaler

This remains one of the hottest cybersecurity stocks and is a top pick across Wall Street. Zscaler Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS) operates as a cloud security company worldwide. Its offerings include the following:

• Zscaler Internet Access solution provides users, workloads, IoT, and OT devices secure access to externally managed applications, including SaaS applications and internet destinations.
• Zscaler Private Access solution is designed to provide access to managed applications hosted internally in data centers, and private or public clouds.
• Zscaler Digital Experience measures end-to-end user experience across business applications, as well as provides an easy to understand digital experience score for each user, application, and location within an enterprise.
• Posture Control solutions comprising Cloud Security Posture Management that identifies and remediates application misconfigurations in SaaS, infrastructure as a service and PaaS to reduce risk and ensure compliance with industry and organizational benchmarks.
• Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management detects and remediates excessive or unused cloud permissions and enforces least privileged access without disrupting productivity.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) analyzes IaC templates to identify misconfigurations and other security issues prior to deployment to cloud infrastructure
• Vulnerability Scanning and Data Loss Prevention solutions.

The company’s platform modules include Zscaler Central Authority, Zscaler Enforcement Node and Zscaler Log Servers.

Zscaler serves customers in airlines and transportation, conglomerates, consumer goods and retail, financial services, health care, manufacturing, media and communications, public sector and education, technology and telecommunications services industries.

Needham’s Strong Buy rating comes with a $210 target price. The consensus target is $170.77, and Zscaler stock closed at $131.84 on Monday.

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Clearly, the need for cybersecurity is increasing every year. These top stocks offer investors solid ways to play the segment in a variety of areas. Most importantly, they are trading at levels that offer solid entry points and they have enormous upside potential.

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