Palo Alto Networks on Monday said it has acquired an artificial intelligence startup Protect AI just as the RSA conference kicked off in San Francisco. Cybersecurity stocks have generally outperformed amid recent market volatility.
Financial terms of the Protect AI deal were not disclosed. Palo Alto would acquire Seattle-based Protect AI for around $650 million to $700 million, said reports in early April.
"We view this acquisition positively as Palo Alto broadens its platform with leading products and talents," said TD Cowen analyst Shaul Eyal in a report.
The annual RSA conference focuses on technology and industry trends, including the threat landscape, company vulnerabilities and emerging technologies. At RSA, analysts expect "agentic" AI to be a big theme.
Cybersecurity Stocks: AI Big Theme At RSA Conference
AI copilots, which are basically conversational chatbot interfaces, aim to improve worker productivity but rely on human prompts. AI agents execute multistep tasks on behalf of users by solving problems and taking action.
At RSA, Palo Alto also announced its Prisma "AIRS" security platform, which includes AI agent capabilities.
"By extending our AI security capabilities to include Protect AI's innovative solutions AI, businesses will be able to build AI applications with comprehensive security," said Anand Oswal, Palo Alto senior vice president, in a news release.
On the stock market today, Palo Alto stock gained nearly 1% to 180.72. PANW stock is about even in 2025.
Further, Palo Alto Networks competes in the network firewall market. Firewall appliances protect computer networks by blocking online intrusions and monitoring Web-based apps. Palo Alto has expanded into a broad cybersecurity platform via cloud computing services.
Meanwhile, the IBD Computer Software Security group ranks No. 12 out of 197 groups tracked.
Among other cybersecurity stocks, CrowdStrike Holdings had gained 24% this year as of Friday's market close. Zscaler had advanced 19% while Cloudflare was up 12%. Also, Fortinet stock had gained 7%.
Amid growing worries over a possible U.S. recession, Wall Street analysts expect corporate spending on cybersecurity to remain a priority over most other software products and services.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on X, formerly Twitter, @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
