Shares in Palo Alto Networks Inc - here is the consensus view

Broker recommendations can be a useful early clue when it comes to finding stocks to buy. But even company analysts can get things wrong, which means that when it comes to listening to these experts, it pays to explore the big picture...

Rather than relying on the trading recommendation of one analyst, a potentially better way of interpreting broker suggestions is to take note of the 'consensus' view of all the analysts covering the stock. That way you get an overall picture of what analysts think.

Take Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYQ:PANW) as an example. Shares in the company have risen by 10.0% over the past month and they are currently trading at 385.4. But what do the analysts that cover the company think?

Based on the broker 'consensus', there could be reasons to believe that the positive recent trend will continue. In terms of trading recommendations, Palo Alto Networks Inc currently has:

• 13 Buy recommendations
• 9 Hold recommendations
• 0 Sell recommendations

This suggests that analysts are generally upbeat about the outlook.

At its current price of 385.4, shares in Palo Alto Networks Inc are trading at a discount of -2.62% to its 52 week high price. The 1-year performance of the shares has been 54.4%.

While analyst forecasts can be a useful guide to what City 'experts' think about a stock's near term future, they can be unreliable. To get a better idea about the strengths and weaknesses of Palo Alto Networks it's worth doing some investigation yourself. Indeed, we've identified some areas of concern with Palo Alto Networks that you can find out about here.