You get a text saying your package is stuck and you need to click a link. Your work laptop makes you sign in with a code from your phone, again. Your bank emails you about “unusual activity” at 2 a.m. Every one of those moments has a security company behind it, and most of those companies trade on the US stock market.
This year has been a ride for these stocks. Okta, CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks more than doubled between January and late October. Palo Alto finished buying CyberArk, Google closed its $32 billion purchase of Wiz, and Proofpoint agreed to buy Varonis. On the other side, Fortinet lost about a quarter of its value in one night after an earnings report that beat estimates, and the whole group sold off twice on fears about AI.
Below are the top 15 cyber security stocks in the USA, ordered by market cap. For each one you get what the company protects, how its last quarter went, and what could go wrong. Most of the ranking articles out there still use 2024 or 2025 numbers, so every figure here has a date next to it.
Not financial advice. This article is for general information only. It isn’t a recommendation to buy or sell any stock. Cybersecurity stocks swing hard, and several on this list moved 10% or more in a single day this year. Do your own research and, if you can, talk to a licensed financial advisor before you invest.
Top 15 US Cyber Security Stocks at a Glance
Market cap comes from Motley Fool (MF) or StockAnalysis (SA) on the date shown. “Latest quarter” is the most recent reported quarter, compared with the same quarter a year earlier. Forward P/E is from StockAnalysis and tells you how many years of expected profit you pay for at today’s price; a very high number means the market is betting on fast growth.
| # | Company (ticker) | What it protects | Market cap (source, date) | Latest quarter revenue | Forward P/E | Dividend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palo Alto Networks (PANW) | Firewalls, cloud, identity (now incl. CyberArk) | $267.2B (MF, Nov 10) | $3.41B (+34%), FQ4 to Jul 31 | 94 | No |
| 2 | CrowdStrike (CRWD) | Laptops, servers, cloud workloads | $231.2B (MF, Nov 10) | $1.47B (+26%), FQ2 to Jul 31 | 154 | No |
| 3 | Cloudflare (NET) | Websites, networks, DDoS protection | $96.3B (SA, Nov 6) | $782.5M (+39%), Q3 | 156 | No |
| 4 | Fortinet (FTNT) | Firewalls and network security | $90.8B (MF, Nov 10) | $2.08B (+20%), Q3 | 33 | No |
| 5 | Zscaler (ZS) | Zero trust access to apps and the web | $31.8B (MF, Nov 10) | $898M (+25%), FQ4 to Jul 31 | 53 | No |
| 6 | Okta (OKTA) | Logins and identity | $31.2B (MF, Nov 10) | $805M (+11%), FQ2 to Jul 31 | 44 | No |
| 7 | Rubrik (RBRK) | Backups and ransomware recovery | $27.7B (SA, Oct 26) | $427M (+38%), FQ2 to Jul 31 | 275 | No |
| 8 | Check Point (CHKP) | Firewalls and email security | $16.3B (SA, Oct 26) | $670M (-1%), Q3 | 15 | No |
| 9 | Gen Digital (GEN) | Consumer antivirus (Norton, Avast, LifeLock) | $14.6B (SA, Oct 26) | $1.37B (+12%), FQ2 to Oct 2 | 8 | Yes, $0.50 a year |
| 10 | SailPoint (SAIL) | Who can access what inside a company | $12.4B (SA, Oct 26) | $309M (+17%), FQ2 to Jul 31 | 60 | No |
| 11 | Akamai (AKAM) | Web security and cloud delivery | $12.1B (MF, Nov 10) | $1.12B (+6%), Q3 | 13 | No |
| 12 | Netskope (NTSK) | Cloud security for remote workers | $10.3B (SA, Oct 26) | $221M (+29%), FQ2 to Jul 31 | n/a (loss) | No |
| 13 | SentinelOne (S) | AI-driven endpoint protection | $8.2B (MF, Nov 10) | $292M (+21%), FQ2 to Jul 31 | 55 | No |
| 14 | Qualys (QLYS) | Finding weak spots in IT systems | $7.8B (SA, Oct 26)* | $188M (+11%), Q3 | 28 | No |
| 15 | Tenable (TENB) | Finding weak spots in IT systems | $5.3B (SA, Oct 26)* | $276M (+9.5%), Q3 | 23 | No |
*Qualys fell to $175.11 and Tenable to $41.96 by November 10, so their market caps are now lower than shown.
The quick read: only one stock here pays a dividend. The fastest growers by revenue are Cloudflare (39%), Rubrik (38%), Palo Alto (34%, helped by the CyberArk deal) and Netskope (29%). The cheapest on forward earnings are Gen Digital, Akamai and Check Point.
What Happened to Cybersecurity Stocks in 2026
None of the top-ranking articles cover this, and you need it to make sense of the prices in the table.
February: the AI scare. Anthropic launched Claude Code Security, an AI tool that scans code for security bugs on its own. Investors worried that AI could replace some security products. CrowdStrike, Cloudflare, Okta and SailPoint dropped about 8% to 9%, and JFrog fell nearly 25%, according to BankInfoSecurity.
February and March: big deals close. Palo Alto completed its CyberArk purchase on February 11. Google closed its $32 billion all-cash Wiz deal on March 11.
Spring and summer: the run-up. Companies kept reporting 20% to 35% growth, and big customers kept moving more of their security to one or two vendors. By October 28, Okta was up 157% for the year, CrowdStrike 127% and Palo Alto 114%, per IO Fund. The CIBR cybersecurity ETF was up nearly 50%, against 18% for the Nasdaq-100.
October: two sharp swings. On October 16, worries about how tech companies will pay for AI spending pulled the group down. Palo Alto fell 7%, SentinelOne 9% and Zscaler 6% that day. A week later, AI tools found serious flaws in PHP (the code behind a large share of websites), and the stocks bounced hard: Zscaler about 23%, Okta 13.8%, CrowdStrike 13.4% and Palo Alto 11.2% for the week.
Late October: Fortinet and Varonis. Fortinet beat estimates and raised guidance, then fell about 25% overnight. Proofpoint agreed to buy Varonis for $6.3 billion. More on both below.
November: a cooldown. Most of these stocks gave back part of the October gains. CrowdStrike went from $242.58 on November 2 to $225.76 on November 10, and Zscaler from $228.72 to $194.92.
The Top 15 Cyber Security Stocks in the USA
1. Palo Alto Networks (PANW)
Palo Alto sells the firewall that sits between a company’s network and the internet, plus cloud security (Prisma), a security operations center platform (Cortex) and, since February, identity security from CyberArk. CyberArk shareholders got $45 in cash plus 2.2005 Palo Alto shares for each share they held, so if you owned CYBR, you now own PANW.
In its fiscal fourth quarter (ended July 31, 2026), revenue rose 34.5% to $3.41 billion. Next-generation security annual recurring revenue (ARR, the yearly value of its subscriptions) jumped 63% to $9.1 billion. Management guided fiscal 2027 revenue to $14.1 billion to $14.2 billion, up 23% to 24%. The company signed about 220 “platformization” deals, where a customer replaces several vendors with Palo Alto.
The risk: Palo Alto posted a GAAP net loss of $282 million that quarter, and the stock trades near 94 times forward earnings. IO Fund puts its price-to-sales ratio at 26.2, almost three times its 10-year median of 9.4. The next report lands on November 18.
Read More: Top 15 Fast Food Stocks in the USA for 2026
2. CrowdStrike (CRWD)
CrowdStrike’s Falcon software sits on laptops, servers and cloud machines, watching for attackers. It’s the company behind the July 2024 outage that grounded flights, and the stock has more than recovered since.
In its fiscal second quarter (ended July 31, 2026), revenue rose 25.8% to $1.47 billion and net new ARR grew 51%. Falcon Flex, a bundle that lets customers pick modules as they go, passed $2.29 billion in ARR. CrowdStrike also expanded its partnership with CoreWeave on November 2, and Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to Buy that day with a $300 target.
The risk: price. CrowdStrike trades at about 154 times forward earnings and, per IO Fund, 50.9 times trailing sales, versus a 10-year median of 26.4. A small miss can knock 10% off a stock priced like that. Results come out December 1.
3. Cloudflare (NET)
Cloudflare runs a global network that sits in front of websites. It blocks attacks, speeds up pages and handles security for remote workers. If a website you visit shows a “checking your browser” page, there’s a good chance that’s Cloudflare.
Third-quarter revenue grew 39% to $782.5 million, well above the $736.8 million analysts expected. Cloudflare raised its 2026 revenue forecast to about $2.96 billion, and the stock jumped more than 14% in premarket trading the next day.
The risk: Cloudflare still lost $34 million on a GAAP basis last quarter and trades at about 156 times forward earnings. You’re paying for growth that has to keep coming.
4. Fortinet (FTNT)
Fortinet makes firewalls on its own chips, which keeps costs low and margins high. It sells to big companies, governments and lots of small businesses.
Its third quarter looked strong on paper. Revenue rose 20% to $2.08 billion, billings jumped 29% to $2.34 billion, and product revenue grew 37%. Fortinet raised its full-year revenue guidance to $8.125 billion to $8.215 billion and lifted its billings forecast for the third time this year. The stock still fell about 25% overnight, from $174.08 to $131.42, after management said some large deals were activating later than planned. It closed at $123.57 on November 10.
The risk: Fortinet’s service revenue guidance was trimmed slightly, and service is the steady, repeating part of the business. On the plus side, at about 33 times forward earnings it’s one of the cheaper growth names here, and analysts’ average target is $145.
5. Zscaler (ZS)
Zscaler sells “zero trust” access. Instead of letting an employee onto the whole company network, it connects them only to the specific apps they need. That limits how far an attacker can move.
Revenue grew 25% to $898 million in the fiscal fourth quarter (ended July 31). The stock has had a rough fall anyway. Zscaler’s outlook for fiscal 2027 disappointed investors in September, and by late October it was up only about 13% for the year while its bigger peers had doubled. It then dropped from $255.80 on October 28 to $194.92 on November 10.
The risk: slowing growth. Zscaler bought SquareX in February to add browser security, but if the next report (estimated around November 24) shows more slowing, the gap with CrowdStrike and Palo Alto could keep growing.
6. Okta (OKTA)
Okta handles logins. When you click “Sign in with Okta” at work or approve a push on your phone, that’s Okta checking you are who you say you are.
Okta has been the best stock on this list in 2026, up 157% by October 28. Revenue grew 10.6% to $805 million in the fiscal second quarter (ended July 31), and the company earned $116 million on a GAAP basis. Shares jumped 22% in one day in late August after that report.
The risk: 11% growth is slow next to the rest of this list, so investors are paying for profits, which are growing faster than sales. Palo Alto now sells identity security through CyberArk, which puts it straight into Okta’s market. Results come out December 1.
7. Rubrik (RBRK)
Rubrik backs up company data and helps them recover after a ransomware attack, without paying the ransom. It went public in 2024.
Revenue rose 37.9% to $427 million in the fiscal second quarter (ended July 31). Analysts rate the stock a Strong Buy, but their average target ($121.26) sat below the stock price in late October. Shares dropped 7% to $124.15 on October 30.
The risk: Rubrik still loses money ($62 million on a GAAP basis last quarter), and its forward P/E of about 275 is the highest on this list. Next results are expected around December 3.
8. Check Point Software (CHKP)
Check Point is one of the oldest names in security, founded in Israel in 1993. It sells firewalls, email security and cloud protection, and runs one of the most profitable businesses in the group.
The StockAnalysis table shows third-quarter revenue of $670 million, down 1.1% from a year earlier, with net income of $185 million. The stock trades near 15 times forward earnings, cheap for this sector, and its market cap was about 22% lower than a year earlier in late October.
The risk: growth. Check Point is losing ground to Palo Alto and Fortinet in firewalls. It doesn’t pay a dividend; it returns cash through buybacks instead.
9. Gen Digital (GEN)
Gen Digital owns Norton, Avast, AVG and LifeLock. It’s the consumer pick on this list: the antivirus on your parents’ laptop and the identity theft protection you see advertised on TV.
Revenue grew 12.2% to $1.37 billion in the quarter ended October 2, and net income was $287 million. Gen pays a $0.125 quarterly dividend ($0.50 a year), the only dividend on this list. At about 8 times forward earnings, it’s also the cheapest stock here.
The risk: Gen carries a lot of debt from buying Avast and MoneyLion, and consumers can cancel a subscription with one click. The stock climbed from $24.41 on October 26 to $29.80 on November 9.
10. SailPoint (SAIL)
SailPoint controls who can access what inside a company: which employee can open the payroll system, which contractor still has a login after they left. Thoma Bravo took it private in 2022 and brought it back to the stock market in 2025.
Revenue grew 16.8% to $309 million in the fiscal second quarter (ended July 31). SailPoint was one of the stocks hit in the February AI selloff. None of the top-ranking articles cover it yet.
The risk: it still posts GAAP losses ($50 million last quarter), and Palo Alto’s CyberArk deal creates a much bigger competitor. Next results are expected around December 8.
11. Akamai (AKAM)
Akamai started out speeding up websites and now makes more than half its revenue from security. Its security unit brought in $622 million last quarter, up 10%.
Third-quarter revenue grew 6.4% to $1.12 billion. The bigger story is cloud computing. Akamai signed an $11.6 billion, seven-year commitment from Anthropic for computing power, and its multi-year cloud deals signed this year now top $14 billion. The stock fell anyway, because fourth-quarter guidance came in below estimates and spending on data centers is rising fast. It closed at $83.71 on November 10, far below its 52-week high of $165.45.
The risk: Akamai is spending $3.46 billion to $3.66 billion on capital projects this year, and margins dropped from 31% to 25%. Analysts’ average target is $130, so many of them think the drop went too far.
12. Netskope (NTSK)
Netskope protects people who work from anywhere. It checks traffic between employees, cloud apps and the web, much like Zscaler. It listed on Nasdaq in September 2025 at $19 a share.
Revenue grew 29% to $221 million in the fiscal second quarter (ended July 31). The stock traded at $25.21 on October 26, about a third above its IPO price, and already makes up about 5% of the HACK and BUG cybersecurity ETFs.
The risk: Netskope lost $111 million last quarter on a GAAP basis, and the average analyst target ($19.36) was below the share price in late October.
13. SentinelOne (S)
SentinelOne competes with CrowdStrike in endpoint security, the software that protects laptops and servers. It sells itself as the more automated, AI-first option.
Revenue grew 20.6% to $292 million in the fiscal second quarter (ended July 31). The stock swings hard; it fell 9% on October 16 alone. It closed at $23.43 on November 10. 24/7 Wall St. named SentinelOne as a possible takeover target back in May, as larger players keep buying.
The risk: SentinelOne still loses money ($93 million GAAP loss last quarter) and is much smaller than CrowdStrike, which makes it harder to win the big contracts.
14. Qualys (QLYS)
Qualys scans company networks and cloud systems for weak spots before attackers find them. It’s one of the few profitable small-cap names in the group.
Third-quarter revenue rose 11% to $188 million, and Qualys raised its full-year revenue guidance to about $737 million to $739 million. Its adjusted EBITDA margin was 48%. Even so, the stock fell 13.5% on November 10, to $175.11.
The risk: growth around 10% a year. AI tools that find bugs automatically compete directly with what Qualys sells. Analysts rate it a Hold.
15. Tenable (TENB)
Tenable does similar work to Qualys, finding and ranking security gaps across a company’s systems. It added Anthropic’s AI models to its Tenable One platform this year.
Third-quarter revenue rose 9.5% to $276 million, its non-GAAP operating margin climbed to 27.1% from 23.3%, and remaining performance obligations (contracted future revenue) grew 14.4% to $1.06 billion. Tenable raised its full-year guidance to $1.084 billion to $1.087 billion.
The risk: slow revenue growth and a price drop to $41.96 by November 10. Analysts rate it a Hold with an average target of $36.45.
Stocks You Might Expect That Aren’t on the List
CyberArk (CYBR). It’s now part of Palo Alto Networks. Shareholders got $45 in cash plus 2.2005 Palo Alto shares for each CyberArk share.
Varonis (VRNS). Proofpoint agreed on October 15 to buy Varonis for $49.75 a share in cash, about $6.3 billion. The deal should close in the first half of 2027. Varonis closed at $49.10 on November 10, so there’s little upside left unless another buyer bids higher.
Wiz. Wiz was never public. Google bought it for $32 billion, so the only way to own a piece of it is through Alphabet (GOOGL).
Proofpoint. Private, owned by Thoma Bravo.
Cisco, Microsoft and Broadcom. All three sell a lot of security. Cisco owns Splunk, and Microsoft sells Defender and Sentinel. Security is a small part of each company, though, so their stock moves on other things. Cisco does pay a dividend if income matters to you.
Cybersecurity ETFs if You Don’t Want to Pick
If you’d rather own the whole group, three ETFs cover most of these names. Figures are from StockAnalysis.
| ETF | Expense ratio | Assets | 1-year total return | Biggest holdings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity (CIBR) | 0.58% | $15.76B | 21.1% (to Nov 6) | CrowdStrike, Cisco, Palo Alto, Broadcom, Fortinet |
| Amplify Cybersecurity (HACK) | 0.60% | $3.20B | 30.2% (to Nov 6) | Broadcom, CrowdStrike, Cisco, Palo Alto, General Dynamics |
| Global X Cybersecurity (BUG) | 0.50% | $2.12B | 44.5% (to Oct 26) | Okta, CrowdStrike, Fortinet, Palo Alto, Zscaler |
CIBR is the biggest, but Cisco and Broadcom take up about 14% of it. BUG holds more pure-play security names, which is why it gained more when Okta took off. For a cheaper broad option, see our top 10 mutual funds comparison.
How to Pick a Cybersecurity Stock
- Decide what you’re betting on. Big platforms (Palo Alto, CrowdStrike, Fortinet) are winning as companies cut down to fewer vendors. Smaller names (SentinelOne, Tenable, Qualys) could get bought, the way Varonis did.
- Check the price you pay. CrowdStrike and Cloudflare trade above 150 times forward earnings. Gen Digital, Akamai and Check Point trade under 15. Neither is right or wrong, but the expensive ones fall harder on a miss.
- Read the next earnings report. Palo Alto reports November 18, and CrowdStrike and Okta on December 1. Look at ARR or billings growth, not only revenue.
- Watch the AI news. AI tools that find bugs hurt these stocks in February and helped them in October. Expect more swings both ways.
- Keep each stock small. A common rule is to keep any single stock under 5% of your portfolio. Fortinet showed this year how fast a 25% drop can happen.
If the AI rally makes you nervous, read our piece on defensive stocks during the AI bull market. For other sectors, see the top 15 industrial stocks in the USA and the top 15 banking stocks in the USA.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the biggest cybersecurity stock in the USA?
Palo Alto Networks, with a market cap of about $267 billion at the November 10, 2026 close, according to Motley Fool. CrowdStrike is second at about $231 billion.
Which cybersecurity stock grew fastest in 2026?
By share price, Okta. It was up 157% for the year on October 28, per IO Fund, ahead of CrowdStrike (127%) and Palo Alto (114%). By revenue growth in the latest quarter, Cloudflare led at 39%, then Rubrik at 38%.
Do any cybersecurity stocks pay dividends?
Very few. On this list, only Gen Digital pays one, $0.50 a share a year. Cisco also pays a dividend and owns a large security business. Palo Alto, CrowdStrike, Fortinet, Zscaler, Okta and Check Point pay nothing and use their cash for growth or buybacks.
What happened to CyberArk stock?
Palo Alto Networks completed its purchase of CyberArk on February 11, 2026. Each CyberArk share turned into $45 in cash plus 2.2005 shares of Palo Alto. CYBR no longer trades as its own stock on Nasdaq.
Can I buy Wiz stock?
No. Google bought Wiz for $32 billion in March 2026, and Wiz was private before that. Buying Alphabet (GOOGL) is the only way to get exposure, and Wiz is a tiny part of Alphabet.
Why did Fortinet stock drop in October 2026?
Fortinet beat estimates and raised its full-year guidance on October 28, but said some large deals were activating later than expected and trimmed its service revenue forecast. The stock fell about 25% overnight, from $174.08 to $131.42.
Is AI good or bad for cybersecurity stocks?
Both, so far. Attackers use AI to move faster, and CrowdStrike’s 2026 Global Threat Report says AI-enabled attacks rose 89% in 2025. That drives demand. AI tools that find bugs on their own could also replace some products, which is what spooked investors in February.
What is the best cybersecurity ETF?
It depends on what you want. CIBR is the biggest ($15.76 billion) but holds a lot of Cisco and Broadcom. BUG is cheaper (0.50%) and holds more pure security names, and it returned 44.5% over the year to October 26.
Start With the Security You Already Use
Think about the security tools you already deal with. Maybe your company uses Okta to sign in, CrowdStrike on your laptop, or Zscaler when you work from home. Maybe Norton is on your home computer. Start with those, since you already know how they work and whether people around you complain about them. Then read the company’s latest earnings release and see if the numbers tell the same story.
