CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks each recorded their best quarter ever between April and June 2026, with stock gains of 95% and 113% respectively, as the rise of Mythos-class AI models accelerated enterprise cybersecurity spending.
CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks each closed out the best quarter in their respective histories between April and June 2026, posting stock gains of 95% and 113% as the rise of AI-powered cyber threats pushed enterprise customers toward the two dominant names in cybersecurity.
The parallel rallies reflect a broader shift in how companies are thinking about digital defense. The emergence of Mythos-class AI models — systems capable of autonomously identifying software vulnerabilities and orchestrating full-scale attacks — has created urgency among corporate buyers that, analysts say, is unlike anything seen in prior threat cycles.
"What the Mythos moment proved is that the world, starting from the frontier AI labs themselves, realized that AI needs a cybersecurity ecosystem," CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on an earnings call earlier this month. "This was a Mythos inflection point."
Mythos is an AI model considered too powerful to release publicly. Both CrowdStrike and Palo Alto were granted early access to the model as Project Glasswing partners and are also among the first adopters of OpenAI's Daybreak program. Representatives from both firms have participated in White House meetings on AI security policy.
Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora told analysts last month that more than 1,200 customers reached out to the company to discuss cybersecurity in the period following the emergence of Mythos, and that Palo Alto held 800 individual meetings within a six-week window.
CrowdStrike's Falcon Shield identity protection platform posted four-times annual recurring revenue growth in its fiscal first quarter, according to Kurtz.
The strong business results come on the back of strategic moves both companies made before the Mythos-driven demand spike materialized. Earlier this year, Palo Alto closed a $25 billion acquisition of Israeli identity security firm CyberArk, while CrowdStrike moved to acquire identity security startup SGNL.
"They're the best positioned to continue to gain market share from a product perspective," said Shaul Eyal, an analyst at TD Cowen. "They have all the necessary ingredients."
The surge in demand has also intensified investor expectations, creating a demanding earnings environment. Earlier this month, shares in both companies fell after their respective quarterly reports, despite strong results and positive AI commentary — a signal that investors are pricing in continued acceleration.
"We worry this disappointment could continue in future quarters if investors are hoping for even more momentum to show up in growth post Mythos / Glasswing and as a result of regulatory/government pressure," analysts at Bernstein wrote.
Still, the underlying demand environment remains robust. With agentic AI systems now capable of conducting attacks in seconds, enterprise customers appear unwilling to bet on smaller or less-established vendors for protection.
"For now, there's lots of know-how that [businesses] don't have, and they would rather partner with the leaders in the market that have built business models for decades," Eyal said.
The question heading into the second half of 2026 is whether either company can sustain the rate of demand growth that investors have now priced into their shares — or whether the bar has simply been set too high to clear consistently.
Jay Goldberg is a staff writer at TechEchelon covering technology, markets, and policy. He files the breaking news and deal coverage that move the publication's core desks.
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