PANW vs WDC: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. and Western Digital Corporation — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-09-26.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. · Technology
$374.74
-5.2% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade C
High Quality
VS
Western Digital Corporation · Technology
$441.36
-16.8% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade C
QuantHub Verdict
PANW has more upside to fair value
(-5.2%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
See all research →
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
PANW |
WDC |
| Current Price |
$374.74 |
$441.36 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$355.11 |
$367.30 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
-5.2%
|
-16.8%
|
| Market Cap |
$305.4B |
$152.1B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
569.8x
|
17.4x
|
| Price / Sales |
26.6x
|
11.8x
|
| Price / FCF |
64.0x
|
47.3x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+34.4%
|
+43.8%
|
| Gross Margin |
70.4%
|
48.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
6.1%
|
34.9%
|
| Return on Equity |
1.7%
|
118.6%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
0.12% |
| FCF Yield |
1.56%
|
2.12%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Strong Buy
|
Investment Thesis
Palo Alto Networks is a global cybersecurity leader built around next-generation firewalls, the Panorama management platform, and a broad subscription portfolio spanning threat prevention, cloud security, secure access, and security analytics, sold to medium and large enterprises, service providers, and governments through direct and channel distribution. The business quality is genuinely high on…
Western Digital designs and manufactures hard disk drives and flash-based storage for data centers, client devices, and consumer markets, and it is currently enjoying an extraordinary demand surge tied to AI infrastructure buildouts. In the most recent quarter, revenue grew 43.8% year over year and earnings grew 1143.2% year over year, while trailing twelve-month gross margin reached 48.9%, opera…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
PANW |
WDC |
| Zone Low |
$266.33 |
$275.48 |
| Zone High |
$301.84 |
$312.20 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
No
|