It seems like every other week we hear about another high-profile cyber attack that leads to compromised personal data and damaged reputations for major companies. You can probably recall the SolarWinds hack from last December, and perhaps you are aware of the incident with Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) where the personal information of 533 million users was leaked online. These types of stories highlight the importance of cybersecurity in today’s digital age, particularly due to the ways that people work and go about their daily lives have been transformed by the pandemic.
The cybersecurity industry is expected to grow substantially over the next few years at a compound annual growth rate of 10% to reach a value of more than $326 billion by 2027. There is room for multiple long-term winners as the industry continues its expansion, which is why looking into some of the most promising names in cybersecurity could be a smart way to secure your financial future. Here are 3 of the best cybersecurity stocks to consider buying now:
1. CrowdStrike Holdings
This cybersecurity company provides a cloud-delivered solution for endpoint protection and was one of the biggest winners of 2020. It’s also one of the few high-growth names that have held up well over the recent weakness in growth stocks, which is why Crowdstrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) should be one of the first names on your shopping list if you are interested in cybersecurity. The company’s Falcon platform is the first and only cybersecurity solution to unify next-generation antivirus, endpoint detection and response, and a 24/7 threat hunting service all in one. This is a big selling point as organizations look to consolidate their security solutions into one tool.
CrowdStrike has created something special, evident in the fact that the company added a record 1,480 net new subscription customers in Q4. The company also reported an 82% year-over-year increase in FY 2021 total revenue, which hit $874.4 million. Perhaps what is most intriguing about this company is the fact that it can cross-sell and upsell existing clients easily with new modules on its platform, which might what eventually separates CrowdStrike from its peers over the long term.
2. Palo Alto Networks
If you are interested in owning one of the leading cybersecurity companies in the world, Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) fits the bill. The company’s diverse product portfolio includes firewall appliances, virtual firewalls, endpoint protection, cloud security, and cybersecurity analytics, which means it can appeal to a variety of different enterprise security needs. Since network security is going to be a big priority for organizations going forward, investors should expect Palo Alto to be one of the key names in the industry for years to come. There’s also a lot to like about this company’s ambitions in the cloud security space, as it currently works with all four of the largest enterprise service providers including Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Web Services and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Azure to help with client data security.
The company’s Q2 results showed that Palo Alto Networks has a lot of momentum working in its favor, as Q2 revenue grew by 25% year-over-year to $1 billion. Palo Alto also upped its forward guidance to $4.15 to $4.20 billion for FY 2021, which would represent year-over-year growth between 22% and 23%. It’s also worth noting that Palo Alto’s Cortex XDR security platform prevented SolarWinds hackers from breaching its systems and that of its customers, which is a serious vote of confidence for this company’s capabilities.
3. DocuSign
With DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU), you have a business model that is going to benefit from the remote work revolution for many years to come and provides exposure to cybersecurity in a unique way. The DocuSign Agreement Cloud software suite helps businesses to handle contractual agreements digitally and is the world’s leading e-signature solution. If you are looking for confirmation of this company’s rapid growth, note that DocuSign has added more customers in the previous two quarters than it did during the entirety of its FY 20.
While it’s clear that DocuSign’s core e-signature products are very intriguing, the company also helps to protect its clients from cyberattacks with its global enterprise information security program. The company uses data and trends to protect its customers from things like phishing attacks. DocuSign has also developed a unique URL classification system called Pescatore that uses machine learning algorithms and other methods to track threats and phishing kits. Consider this stock a strong option in the enterprise software space that provides secondary exposure to cybersecurity.