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Analysts at BTIG said AI agents have fundamentally changed the threat landscape, lifting price targets on both cybersecurity companies
Shares of CrowdStrike $CRWD and Palo Alto Networks $PANW climbed more than 5% to record highs on Monday after the annual Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas, where demand for artificial intelligence security tools dominated industry conversations, according to CNBC.
BTIG analysts, writing to clients after the conference, said AI agents had emerged as the foremost attack vector and that the overall security environment was "meaningfully worse," while noting that the rollout of AI-driven security tools remains nascent. "The single most consistent theme across our conversations — partners, vendors, and customers alike — was that AI agents have fundamentally changed the threat landscape," the analysts wrote, according to CNBC.
BTIG raised its price target on CrowdStrike to $237 per share, implying roughly 11% gains from where the stock closed on Friday. The firm said AI is catalyzing a fresh wave of modernization across endpoint security, with CrowdStrike standing to gain most directly given the nature of its core offerings. BTIG also raised its price target on Palo Alto Networks to $380 per share, about 4% higher than Friday's close, arguing that the company's identity platform and offerings such as XSIAM and Chronosphere are well placed to capitalize as AI agents proliferate across enterprise environments.
