Updated 9:28 am EDT
Palo Alto Networks (PANW) -) shares moved lower in premarket trading ahead of the cybersecurity group's rare decision to publish its fiscal-fourth-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Friday.
Analysts expect the group to post a bottom line of $1.28 per share, a 60% increase from the year-earlier period, on revenue of around $1.96 billion.
However, cybersecurity rival Fortinet (FTNT) -) earlier this week slashed its annual-sales forecast, citing a pullback in enterprise spending. And with tech stocks taking a hit this week from a surge in Treasury bond yields, many are questioning PANW's decision to report earnings, as well as its fiscal 2024 outlook, on a summer Friday night.
"Very simply this is one of the biggest PR disasters and black eyes we have seen in decades of covering tech, as the pure fear of an unprecedented Friday night special conference call in the summer time frame has sent investors to the elevators ahead of this moment with the stock down materially since the news first hit the tape," said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
Palo Alto Networks shares were marked 2.1% lower in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $203.20 each.
Earlier this summer Palo Alto Networks, which earlier this year met the base criterion for inclusion in the S&P 500 when it posted its fourth consecutive profitable quarter, replaced Dish Network in the main U.S. stock benchmark on June 20.
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