Analysts noted that Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google announced an all-cash acquisition for cyber security vendor Mandiant Inc (NASDAQ:MNDT) for $23 per share, valued at $5.4 billion.
This deal is all about Mandiant being further integrated into Google Cloud with more cyber threats facing enterprises/governments on the transformational shift to cloud and Mandiant establishing itself as "the Navy Seals of cyber security" over the last decade, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives contended.
Ives believes this deal will have a significant ripple impact across the cyber security space. It will pressure cloud stalwarts Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) into M&A and further bulk up its cloud platforms. The analyst thinks cyber names such as Varonis Systems Inc (NASDAQ:VRNS), Tenable Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: TENB), CyberArk Software Ltd (NASDAQ: CYBR), Qualys Inc (NASDAQ: QLYS), Rapid7 Inc (NASDAQ: RPD), SailPoint Technologies Holdings Inc (NYSE: SAIL), and Ping Identity Holding Corp (NYSE:PING) standout as potential M&A candidates in cyber security given these vendors laser focus on protecting next-generation cloud workloads from cyberattacks.
Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion thinks the deal makes strategic sense given Google's move further into the Enterprise. The Mandiant acquisition should complement Google Cloud Platform's current security offerings, including BeyondCorp Enterprise and VirusTotal.
Champion reiterated his Overweight rating and $3,475 price target (37.4% upside) on Alphabet shares.
Price Action: GOOG shares traded higher by 3.39% at $2,631.89 in the market on the last check Wednesday.
