An Introduction

Tech stocks began to plummeted last Tuesday, Sept. 3rd, after the ISM manufacturing index reported August figures that came in below consensus expectations. That raised fears about the strength of the economy and increased the chances that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.

To avoid duplication and wasting the time of readers familiar with cybersecurity computing, a full description of the category, as presented in my previous article on the subject, is presented here.

The Pure-Play CyberSecurity Software Stocks Portfolio

The 5 largest pure-play cyber security software stocks  (i.e. +$20B in market capitalization) are monitored in our Pure-Play CyberSecurity Software Stocks Portfolio and below are how they performed last week, in descending order, in August, and YTD, along with their market capitalizations, and the most recent news, analyses and commentary on some of them.

1. Fortinet (FTNT): DOWN 2.0% last week; UP 31.7% in August; UP 28.4% YTD
   • Market Capitalization: $57.5B
   • Most Recent News, Analyses, and Commentary:
     • Fortinet, Inc.: Among the Unrivaled Stocks of the Next 10 Years
2. Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP): DOWN 2.1% last week; UP 4.9% in August; UP 23.3% YTD
   • Market Capitalization: $21.3B
   • Most Recent News, Analyses, and Commentary:
     • Calculating The Intrinsic Value Of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
3. Palo Alto Networks (PANW): DOWN 7.4% last week; UP 11.7% in August; UP 13.8% YTD 
   • Market Capitalization: $109.3B
   • Most Recent News, Analyses, and Commentary:
     • Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is Attracting Investor Attention: Here is What You Should Know
4. CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD): UP 2.1% last week; UP 19.5% in August; DOWN 3.5% YTD
   • Market Capitalization: $60.4BMost
   • Recent News, Analyses, and Commentary:
     • CrowdStrike’s EPS Estimates Southbound: Time to Sell CRWD Stock?
5. Zscaler (ZS): DOWN 21.6% last week; UP 11.5% in August; DOWN 29.2% YTD
   • Market Capitalization: $23.7B
   • Most Recent News, Analyses, and Commentary:
     • Down Nearly 30% in 2024: Is Zscaler‘s Stock a Buy?

Summary

On average, the above 5 pure-play cybersecurity software stocks went DOWN 9.6% last week, UP 14.6% in August, and are UP 5.1% YTD. The constituents have an average market capitalization of $54.4B.

Cybersecurity ETF

Investing in a basket of cyber security stocks is a quick and easy way to get investment portfolio exposure to this critical segment of the tech sector. The Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG), for example, consists of 31 stocks and has an expense ratio of 0.51%.

Thank you for reading the above article. I will update it weekly. Now, as a reward, here is a link to Money, Money, Money—It’s a Rich Man’s World!