150% in six months: Palo Alto CEO profits from buying shares at the low
The purchase of shares at the low provided CEO Nikesh Arora with a net profit of about 16 million dollars in six months. With revenues of over 3 billion dollars, entry into the TA-35 and TA-125 indices, and a valuation approaching a trillion shekels, the cyber company continues to break records.
Shares of the cyber company Palo Alto have been in the midst of a significant rally in recent months. In the last three months, the company's stock has jumped by almost 90%, recording a record valuation of about 314 billion dollars. The one who benefited from the jump is the company's CEO Nikesh Arora, who purchased company shares worth 10 million dollars last March.
Arora purchased the shares after the company's stock entered a tailspin at the beginning of the year along with tech stocks on Wall Street, following investors' fears regarding the effects of artificial intelligence on their businesses. Among other things, this was against the backdrop of the launch of models by the artificial intelligence company Anthropic. However, this decline did not last long, as since then Palo Alto's stock has soared by over 150%, which brought the value of the shares that Arora purchased to about 26 million dollars.
Today, Arora, who has served as CEO of the cyber company since 2018, holds Palo Alto shares with a total value of about 424 million dollars. Last June, Palo Alto shareholders rejected the annual compensation package that the company sought to grant to Arora, amounting to about 100 million dollars. Despite the rejection by the assembly, it is not impossible that this salary will eventually be granted to Arora, given that over the last decade shareholders have voted against the company's compensation policy in 7 different instances, which did not cause it to significantly change its policy.
Palo Alto finished the first quarter of the year with revenues of over 3 billion dollars alongside an adjusted net profit (Non-GAAP) of 85 cents per share, above analysts' forecasts for revenues of 2.94 billion dollars and a profit of 80 cents per share. Palo Alto will publish its reports for the second quarter of the year only at the beginning of September.
On the way to a trillion-shekel valuation?
Last February, the company's shares began trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange as well, which the cyber giant joined after it completed the acquisition of the Israeli cyber company CyberArk. As part of the completion of the deal, the American company decided to register for trading on the local exchange. Since the start of trading in Tel Aviv, Palo Alto's stock has jumped by almost 90%, while approaching a historic valuation of 1 trillion shekels with giant steps. Last week, the company completed its entry into the local flagship indices, TA-35 and TA-125.
