Biotech2k
Biotech Investor, AI-Driven Drug Discovery
Zscaler is not cheap at 40x earnings, about double an initial guess of 20x. @StockSavvyShay pulled up the real figure live on air ahead of Zscaler's Thursday report. x.comÂ
Zscaler's management is undermining trust in the stock even after a quarter that beat on revenue, EPS, billings and guidance. On the call the CFO offered a 16-17% FY27 guide before FY26 ended and contradicted himself, leaving investors scared. FCF margin guidance fell on higher data center capex, with 2027 capex guided another 200bp of revenue higher. Mythos looks like the real value-add, making cybersecurity names look like resale wrappers around AI LLMs. Very tough for long-term holders. x.com … Show more
Zscaler looks like the better cybersecurity buy for the next three years because its valuation has diverged sharply from CrowdStrike's. Zscaler trades at 5.7x next-twelve-month revenue with 17-18% expected annual growth, versus CrowdStrike at 31.1x revenue and 150x earnings with 21-22% growth, probably the biggest gap ever between them. A 25% CAGR over 3-5 years is hard to model for CrowdStrike at that price. Zscaler has been beaten up for good reasons. x.com x.comÂ
Zscaler's forward guide was gross and undercuts management's credibility. CEO Jay Chaudhry claimed that once growth fell below 30%, the company would see operating leverage every year; that promise now looks false. x.comÂ
Zscaler should sell off on its guide for 9.5% organic ARR growth in fiscal 2027. That makes it a slow-moving software company with excellent dollar-based net retention but a withering growth engine, not an AI winner. x.comÂ
Zscaler is a no-brainer at this price, and selling it on a small Q4 revenue guidance miss makes no sense. Q3 beat on revenue ($850M vs $836M), EPS, operating income and ARR ($3.53B), and Q4 EPS guidance of $1.09 topped the $1.04 estimate, while revenue guidance was $877M versus $879M, per @StockSavvyShay. x.com x.comÂ
Rubrik, Zscaler and Microsoft look very bearish: their reliance on cheap H-1B labor leaves their P&Ls exposed, and those P&Ls are expected to worsen. x.comÂ
Zscaler likely needs to broaden its product scope, or Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike will dominate security through organic growth and acquisitions. Palo Alto grows about 14% organically and mid-20s including acquisitions and, with 4x Zscaler's revenue, commands 10x EV/sales; CrowdStrike, at 2x Zscaler's revenue, gets the same multiple. Scale is being rewarded. x.comÂ
Zscaler's 31% drop is a mispricing, because AI agents multiply endpoints and attack surface, raising demand for the zero-trust security that Zscaler leads. The selloff came the same day Robinhood opened trading to AI agents, so the market is selling a picks-and-shovels name of the AI era while celebrating that era, exactly the setup for +200% trades. x.comÂ
Cybersecurity is a great AI play, but some valuations are getting absolutely ridiculous, and great companies are not great stocks at any price. CrowdStrike trades at 186x forward earnings and 40x sales, Cloudflare at 209x and 43x, Palo Alto Networks at 87x and 21x, and Rubrik at 327x and 11.5x. x.comÂ