Palo Alto Networks 10-Q 2024-01-31

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

☒ QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended January 31, 2024

or

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number 001-35594

PALO ALTO NETWORKS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

3000 Tannery Way

Santa Clara, California 95054

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

(408) 753-4000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

NA

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s common stock as of February 12, 2024 was 323.1 million.

Table of Contents

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Part I

PALO ALTO NETWORKS, INC.

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

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PALO ALTO NETWORKS, INC.

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

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PALO ALTO NETWORKS, INC.

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The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including, without limitation, the following discussion and analysis, contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning: our expectations regarding drivers of and factors affecting growth in our business; statements regarding expected profitability, trends in billing, our mix of product and subscription and support revenue, cost of revenue, gross margin, cash flows, operating expenses, including future share-based compensation expense, income taxes, investment plans, and liquidity; expected recurring revenues resulting from growth in our end-customers and increased adoption of our products and cloud-delivered security solutions; the performance advantages of our products and subscription and support offerings and the potential benefits to our customers; our expectations regarding future investments in research and development and product development, customer support, in our employees and in our sales force, including expectations regarding growth in our sales headcount; our expectation that we will continue to expand our global presence; expectations regarding our revenues, including the seasonality and cyclicality from quarter to quarter; our expectation that we will increase our customer financing activities; the sufficiency of our cash flow from operations with existing cash, cash equivalents, and investments to meet our cash needs for the foreseeable future; our ability to successfully acquire and integrate companies and assets and our expectations and intentions with respect to the products and technologies that we acquire and introduce; the timing and amount of capital expenditures and share repurchases; the effects of worldwide economic and geopolitical conditions, including but not limited to hostilities in Israel, inflation, interest rate levels, growth rates and other conditions, on our operating and financial results and performance; the manufacture, delivery and cost of certain of our products; the effects of current or potential litigation or regulatory developments involving us or affecting our industry; and other statements regarding our future operations, financial condition and prospects, and business strategies. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potentially,” “projects,” “will,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” “would” and similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied by any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and, in particular, the risks discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in Part II, Item 1A of this report and those discussed in other documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

Our Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) is organized as follows:

• Overview. A discussion of our business and overall analysis of financial and other highlights in order to provide context for the remainder of MD&A.

• Key Financial Metrics. A summary of our U.S. GAAP and non-GAAP key financial metrics, which management monitors to evaluate our performance.

• Results of Operations. A discussion of the nature and trends in our financial results and an analysis of our financial results comparing the three and six months ended January 31, 2024 to the three and six months ended January 31, 2023.

• Liquidity and Capital Resources. An analysis of changes on our balance sheets and cash flows, and a discussion of our financial condition and our ability to meet cash needs.

• Critical Accounting Estimates. A discussion of our accounting policies that require critical estimates, assumptions, and judgments.

• Recent Accounting Pronouncements. A discussion of expected impacts of impending accounting changes on financial information to be reported in the future.

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Overview

We empower enterprises, organizations, service providers, and government entities to protect themselves against today’s most sophisticated cyber threats. Our cybersecurity platforms and services help secure enterprise users, networks, clouds, and endpoints by delivering comprehensive cybersecurity backed by industry-leading artificial intelligence and automation. We are a leading provider of zero trust solutions, starting with next-generation zero trust network access to secure today’s remote hybrid workforces and extending to securing all users, applications, and infrastructure with zero trust principles. Our security solutions are designed to reduce customers’ total cost of ownership by improving operational efficiency and eliminating the need for siloed point products. Our company focuses on delivering value in four fundamental areas:

Network Security:

• Our network security platform, designed to deliver complete zero trust solutions to our customers, includes our hardware and software ML-Powered Next-Generation Firewalls, as well as a cloud-delivered Secure Access Service Edge (“SASE”). Prisma® Access, our Security Services Edge (“SSE”) solution, when combined with Prisma SD-WAN, provides a comprehensive single-vendor SASE offering that is used to secure remote workforces and enable the cloud-delivered branch. We have been recognized as a leader in network firewalls, SASE, SSE, and SD-WAN. Our network security platform also includes our cloud-delivered security services, such as Advanced Threat Prevention, Advanced WildFire®, Advanced URL Filtering, DNS Security, IoT/OT Security, GlobalProtect®, Enterprise Data Loss Prevention (“Enterprise DLP”), Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (“AIOps”), SaaS Security API, and SaaS Security Inline. Through these add-on security services, our customers are able to secure their content, applications, users, and devices across their entire organization. Strata Cloud Manager, our network security management solution, can centrally manage our network security platform irrespective of form factor, location, or scale.

Cloud Security:

• We enable cloud-native security through our Prisma Cloud Code to CloudTM platform. As a comprehensive Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (“CNAPP”), Prisma Cloud secures multi- and hybrid-cloud environments for applications, data, and the entire cloud native technology stack across the full development lifecycle, from code to runtime. We also offer our VM-Series and CN-Series virtual firewalls for inline network security on multi- and hybrid-cloud environments.

Security Operations:

• We deliver the next generation of security automation, security analytics, endpoint security, and attack surface management solutions through our Cortex portfolio. These include Cortex XSIAM, our AI-driven security operations platform, Cortex XDR® fo

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Except for the item below, our assessment of our exposures to market risk has not changed materially from the disclosure set forth in Part II, Item 7A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2023.

Interest Rate Risk

The primary objectives of our investment activities are to preserve principal, provide liquidity, and maximize income without significantly increasing risk. Most of the securities we invest in are subject to interest rate risk. To minimize this risk, we maintain a diversified portfolio of cash, cash equivalents, and investments, consisting only of investment-grade securities. To assess the interest rate risk, we performed a sensitivity analysis to determine the impact a change in interest rates would have on the value of the investment portfolio. Based on investment positions as of January 31, 2024, a hypothetical 100 basis point increase in interest rates across all maturities would result in a $79.3 million decline in the fair market value of the portfolio. Such losses would only be realized if we sold the investments prior to maturity. Conversely, a hypothetical 100 basis point decrease in interest rates would lead to a $79.4 million increase in the fair market value of the portfolio.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on our evaluation, our chief executive officer and chief financial officer concluded that, as of January 31, 2024, our disclosure controls and procedures are designed at a reasonable assurance level and are effective to provide reasonable assurance that information we are required to disclose in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

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Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the evaluation required by Rule 13a-15(d) and 15d-15(d) of the Exchange Act that occurred during the fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2024 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Limitations on Controls

In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. In addition, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and that management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the benefits of possible controls and procedures relative to their costs. Further, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the Company have been detected.

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Part II

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

The information set forth under the “Litigation” subheading in Note 10. Commitments and Contingencies in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q is incorporated herein by reference.

Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties including those described below. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, also may become important factors that affect us. If any of the following risks or others not specified below materialize, our business, financial condition, and operating results could be materially adversely affected, and the market price of our common stock could decline. In addition, the impacts of any worsening of the economic environment may exacerbate the risks described below, any of which could have a material impact on us.

Risk Factor Summary

Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Our operating results may be adversely affected by unfavorable economic and market conditions and the uncertain geopolitical environment.

• Our business and operations have experienced growth in recent periods, and if we do not effectively manage any future growth or are unable to improve our systems, processes, and controls, our operating results could be adversely affected.

• Our revenue growth rate in recent periods may not be indicative of our future performance, and we may not be able to maintain profitability, which could cause our business, financial condition, and operating results to suffer.

• Our operating results may vary significantly from period to period, which makes our results difficult to predict and could cause our results to fall short of expectations, and such results may not be indicative of future performance.

• Seasonality may cause fluctuations in our revenue.

• If we are unable to sell new and additional product, subscription, and support offerings to our end-customers, especially to large enterprise customers, our future revenue and operating results will be harmed.

• If we are unable to attract new customers, our future results of operations could be harmed.

• We rely on revenue from subscription and support offerings, and because we recognize revenue from subscription and support over the term of the relevant service period, downturns or upturns in sales or renewals of these subscription and support offerings are not immediately reflected in full in our operating results.

• The sales prices of our products, subscriptions, and support offerings may decrease, which may reduce our revenue and gross profits and adversely impact our financial results.

• We rely on our channel partners to sell substantially all of our products, including subscriptions and support, and if these channel partners fail to perform, our ability to sell and distribute our products and subscriptions will be limited and our operating results will be harmed.

• We are exposed to the credit and liquidity risk of our customers, and to credit exposure in weakened markets, which could result in material losses.

• A portion of our revenue is generated by sales to government entities, which are subject to a number of challenges and risks.

• We face intense competition in our market and we may lack sufficient financial or other resources to maintain or improve our competitive position.

• We may acquire other businesses, which could subject us to adverse claims or liabilities, require significant management attention, disrupt our business, adversely affect our operating results, may not result in the expected benefits of such acquisitions, and may dilute stockholder value.

• If we do not accurately predict, prepare for, and respond promptly to rapidly evolving technological and market developments and successfully manage product and subscription introductions and transitions to meet changing end-customer needs in the enterprise security industry, our competitive position and prospects will be harmed.

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• Issues in the development and deployment of AI may result in reputational harm and legal liability and could adversely affect our results of operations.

• A network or data security incident may allow unauthorized access to our network or data, harm our reputation, create additional liability, and adversely impact our financial results.

• Defects, errors, or vulnerabilities in our products, subscriptions, or support offerings, the failure of our products or subscriptions to block a virus or prevent a security breach or incident, misuse of our products, or risks of product liability claims could harm our reputation and adversely impact our operating results.

• Our ability to sell our products and subscriptions is dependent on the quality of our technical support services and those of our channel partners, and the failure to offer high-quality technical support services could have a material adverse effect on our end-customers’ satisfaction with our products and subscriptions, our sales, and our operating results.

• Claims by others that we infringe their intellectual property rights could harm our business.

• Our proprietary rights may be difficult to enforce or protect, which could enable others to copy or use aspects of our products or subscriptions without compensating us.

• Our use of open source software in our products and subscriptions could negatively affect our ability to sell our products and subscriptions and subject us to possible litigation.

• We license technology from third parties, and our inability to maintain those licenses could harm our business.

• Because we depend on manufacturing partners to build and ship our hardware products, we are susceptible to manufacturing and logistics delays and pricing fluctuations that could prevent us from shipping customer orders on time, if at all, or on a cost-effective basis, which may result in the loss of sales and end-customers.

• Managing the supply of our hardware products and product components is complex. Insufficient supply and inventory would result in lost sales opportunities or delayed revenue, while excess inventory would harm our gross margins.

• Because some of the key components in our hardware products come from limited sources of supply, we are susceptible to supply shortages or supply changes, which, in certain cases, have disrupted or delayed our scheduled product deliveries to our end-customers, increased our costs and may result in the loss of sales and end-customers.

• If we are unable to attract, retain, and motivate our key technical, sales, and management personnel, our business could suffer.

• We generate a significant amount of revenue from sales to distributors, resellers, and end-customers outside of the United States, and we are therefore subject to a number of risks associated with international sales and operations.

• We are exposed to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which could negatively affect our financial condition and operating results.

• We face risks associated with having operations and employees located in Israel.

• We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could subject us to liability or impair our ability to compete in international markets.

• We may incur increased costs to comply with privacy and data protection laws and, if we fail to comply, we could be subject to government enforcement actions, private litigation and adverse publicity.

• We may have exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities.

• If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies are based on assumptions that change or prove to be incorrect, our operating results could fall below our publicly announced guidance or the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the market price of our common stock.

• We are obligated to maintain proper and effective internal control over financial re

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Trading Plans of Directors and Executive Officers

Set forth below is certain information regarding Rule 10b5-1 trading plans adopted or terminated by our directors and officers (as defined in Rule 16a-1(f)) during the second quarter of fiscal 2024. The Rule 10b5-1 trading plans listed below are each intended to satisfy the affirmative defense of Rule 10b5-1(c).

No other officers or directors, as defined in Rule 16a-1(f), adopted, modified, and/or terminated a “Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement” or a “non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement,” as defined in Regulation S-K Item 408, during the second quarter of fiscal 2024.

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† The certifications attached as Exhibit 32.1 and 32.2 that accompany this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are not deemed filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, whether made before or after the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, irrespective of any general incorporation language contained in such filing.

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Signatures

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

Date: February 20, 2024

Date: February 20, 2024

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